Bitzlato users can now partially withdraw their bitcoin funds from the dismantled cryptocurrency exchange, according to a media report. The Russia-linked trading platform was attacked by Western law enforcement and its France-based server infrastructure was seized in January.
Bitzlato customers can withdraw up to 50% of their Bitcoin on the exchange
Users of Bitzlato’s web portal and app can now withdraw a portion of the funds they had with the cryptocurrency exchange when he was arrested by French and US authorities in mid-January. Since Monday, your clients 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 BTCthe report detailed.
Withdrawals can be requested via a Telegram bot and users must provide their Bitzlato account email address, the article explains. Upon verification, a code needed to complete the transfer is generated and sent to that email inbox.
The Hong Kong-registered exchange was dismantled based on allegations that it processed more than $700 million in illicit funds, as the US Department of Justice announced, or more than $1 billion, according to Europol.
The dirty money was allegedly linked to various criminal activities and actors, including the largest former darknet marketplace 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 residing in China, was arrested in Miami. Four more members of the Bitzlato team were detained in Europe, while another co-founder, Anton Shkurenko, was questioned and released in Russia.
In a Youtube interview, Shkurenko had announced plans to move the exchange to Russia and relaunch operations from there. He also promised to partially restore withdrawals despite French police seizing the platform’s hot wallet.
According to a survey of nearly 3,300 respondents on Bitzlato’s Telegram news channel, 30% of users are withdrawing funds without issue, 3% experienced short-term asset freezes, another 4%’s money is still locked up , 12% have not yet decided how to withdraw, and more than half of those surveyed intend to wait for the platform’s peer-to-peer market to reopen.
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