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Crypto Exchange Bitzlato Restores User Access to Half of Bitcoin Balances, Report – Exchange Bitcoin News
Bitzlato users can now partially withdraw their bitcoin funds from the dismantled cryptocurrency exchange, according to a media report. The Russian-linked trading platform was targeted by Western law enforcement and had its France-based server infrastructure seized in January.
Bitzlato customers are allowed to withdraw up to 50% of their Bitcoin on the exchange
Users of Bitzlato’s web portal and app can now withdraw part of the funds they had with the crypto exchange when it was breached by the French and US authorities in mid-January. Since Monday, their customers have access to half of their bitcoin (BTC) balances.
Account holders can withdraw up to 50% of their bitcoins, Bitzlato representatives told Russian-language crypto news outlet Forklog. The minimum withdrawal amount is 0.001 BTC and the commission is 0.0003 BTC, the report described.
Withdrawals can be ordered through a Telegram bot and users must provide their Bitzlato account email address, the article explained. Upon confirmation, a code necessary to complete the transfer is generated and sent to that email box.
The Hong Kong-registered exchange was dismantled based on allegations that it processed more than $700 million in illegal funds, the US Department of Justice announced, or more than $1 billion, according to Europol.
The dirty money is said to have been related to various criminal activities and actors, including the former largest darknet market Hydra, which was shut down by Germany in April, and Russia’s largest crypto pyramid scheme, Finiko.
Bitzlato co-founder and majority owner Anatoly Legkodymov, a Russian citizen living in China, was arrested in Miami. Four more members of Bitzlato’s team were arrested in Europe while another co-founder, Anton Shkurenko, was questioned and released in Russia.
In an interview on YouTube, Shkurenko had announced plans to move the headquarters to Russia and restart operations from there. He also promised to partially restore withdrawals despite French law enforcement seizing the platform’s hot wallet.
According to a survey conducted among almost 3,300 respondents in Bitzlato’s news channel on Telegram, 30% of users withdraw money without problems, 3% experienced short-term freezing of assets, the money of another 4% is still blocked, 12% is still missing. decide how to withdraw, and more than half of respondents intend to wait for the platform’s peer-to-peer market to reopen.
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