Vebitcoin is the second Turkish cryptocurrency exchange platform to suspend its operation by “locking” its clients’ funds.
An exchange announcement states: “Due to the recent attention in cryptocurrencies, our transactions have become much more intense than anticipated. We are very sorry, but this situation has put us in a bit of a financial difficulty.”
The exchange states that it has suspended the transactions in order to be able to “honour the rights of the applicants”, adding that a new announcement will follow soon. This makes Vebitcoin the second Turkish stock exchange to close after Thodex on Wednesday.
Vebitcoin is one of the smallest exchanges in the country. At Vebitcoin 56% of transactions concern bitcoin, 10% at XPR and 6% Stellar.
Immediately after the announcement, Turkey’s Financial Crimes Monitoring Service froze all bank accounts related to the company, while a criminal investigation was launched into the company and its executives.
There are 31 cryptocurrency exchanges in Turkey including Thodex and Vebitcoin. Vebitcoin introduces itself as a BitGo partner, stating that “All products of our exchange, which works with BitGo, are insured.”
A BitGo spokesman, on the other hand, clarified that they are not partners with the exchange.
