Dead Crypto Exchange Wex Wallet’s 10,000 BTC Removed Suspiciously 

• Wex, successor of BTC-e theft of 10,000 BTC in any anonymous way.
• Arrest of Alexander Vinnik in accusation of money laundering linked to Mt. Gox. 
• Involvement of Alexie Bilyuchenko in the frauds and his backstory. 

Wex’s 10k BTC Transferred 

The successor of the closed crypto exchange BTC-e, Wex, is found to be 10,000 BTC being moved from their wallets for the first time in five years. 

According to the sources, the BTC worth of $165 million has been transferred to anonymous wallets since its largest transaction last back in August 2017. On November 23, 2022, 3,500 BTC were moved to several unknown wallets, and another sum of 6,500 was moved to a single address. 

It was first noticed by Sergey Mendeleev, founder of the crypto exchange Garantex and CEO of Indefibank. As per the Bits.media reports, Sergey disclosed it on his Telegram channel. 

Unlike other players, BTC-e did not ask users for Identity verification, and it was appealing to legitimate investors as well as organized criminals to launder money. According to Global Witness, the hike in the popularity of BTC-e among investors was noticed in 2016 as it became the third largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.   

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) suspected BTC-e being involved 

in hiding the stolen funds linked to the Mt. Gox hack in February 2014. Also, Cybercrime experts believe that it is also misused by the mysterious Russian hacking group Fancy bears.     

What Happened to All Culprits?

According to the Coin Republic, the FBI forced the BTC-e to halt business operations in 2107. The alleged operator of the crypto exchange, Alexander Vinnik, was arrested by the authorities in Greece in the same year by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) who is accused of money laundering of an estimated $9 billion through the exchange.  

According to the BBC, after the previous firm collapsed, which was founded by Vinnik and his other partner Alexie Bilyuchenko. Soon after, to recoup the losses, Bilyuchenko decided to start another exchange called Wex. But soon, in the summer of 2018, trading activity slowed, and at the year’s end, and finally it suddenly completely stopped. . 

Key player Alexie was responsible for the stoppage of trading at the Wex, leaving the users unable to access their investments. An estimated $450 million worth of cryptocurrency holdings disappeared without any traces.  

Vinnik’s lawyer, Timofei Musatov, told the local media reporters that while Vinnik is in prison, he has been on a long hunger strike, suffering from a brain tumor. France, Russia and the United States are all seeking his extradition. In December 2019, Greece police handed him to France. After that, the French authorities shifted him to the government of the United States in the same year. 

As Mendeleev noted, Russian law enforcement arrested Bilyuchenko in March 2019. In June 2022 the co-owner and CEO of Wex was arrested by Interpol at the request of Kazakhstan.  

Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.

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