Earlier this summer, CCN reported on BTC-e’s domain being seized shortly after 38-year-old Russian national Alexander Vinnik was arrested for laundering $4 billion in bitcoin. At the time he was believed to be the exchange’s admin but, as updates rolled in, the exchange stated he was never an employee.
In a series of updates published through its Bitcointalk and account, BTC-e revealed that it still had control over 55% of user funds, meaning authorities seized the other 45% and, as such, the exchange would reimburse users by issuing a Bitfinex-like token.
At the time, it was also revealed that BTC-e was fined for $110 million, and that it was going to relaunch and ditch the BTC-e brand due to “unresolved issues from the Office of Financial Crimes of the US Treasury.”
Now, BTC-e’s latest announcement points to an update on August 30 and indicates it will publish daily updates after August 31. According to the admin behind the exchange’s account, a process of transferring digital resources to an unnamed investment company is currently going on, so as to prepare these resources for its relaunch.
The exchange restated that it holds 55% of user funds, which users will be able to withdraw as soon as it launches. Notably, the it added:
The exchange didn’t just announce more was to come, and released a few details on the exchange it’s set to launch in September. According to a translated post from Bitcointalk, legal issues are currently being taken care of so the exchange can launch on September 1. Users will be given access to 55% of the tokens they had at the time the exchange was taken down, and the remaining 45% will be converted to Bitfinex-like tokens users can use to trade, or wait until they’re bought back by BTC-e.
It will be possible to trade without being verified, with several limits imposed. According to BTC-e, the investment company it found is currently training employees to take care of the verification process, so every user can get verified in less than 24 hours. There’s also an “abnormally large influx of volunteers” that can help with the process. The exchange claims to have all necessary information to relaunch, and that deposits made until August 1 will still be credited, although its addresses are no longer being used. Login and password information will remain the same for all users.
BTC-e pledged to credit all bitcoin holders with their bitcoin cash tokens at a 1:1 rate. Notably, BTC-e stated that the new exchange won’t be available to U.S. residents, and might have margin trading in its web-interface.
