The co-founder of Hong Kong-based crypto exchange Bitzlato, which had been charged with money laundering and had its servers seized in a major international operation earlier this month, said the company plans to resume operating and allow partial withdrawals of user funds, according to Forklog, which summarized a YouTube interview in Russian given by the co-founder.
Anton Shkurenko, whose co-founder Anatoly Legkodymov was arrested in the law enforcement operation along with several other Bitzlato executives, said police had seized the platform’s hot wallet, which contained about 35 of user funds in all cryptocurrencies at the time.
But Shkurenko said the exchange would reopen at an unspecified time, and that he could say with “100 certainty” that “we will allow 50 of user funds in bitcoin held in Bitzlato wallets to be withdrawn on the same day we launch. For other cryptocurrencies, the launch will be gradual.”
The previously little-known exchange was charged in mid-January with laundering over $700 million in funds tied to criminals in Russia. Legkodymov is a Russian citizen and majority owner of Bitzlato who was living in China and was arrested in Miami.
The European Union police agency Europol said Bitzlato had exchanged over $1 billion in assets linked to criminal activities.
