The users of Turkish crypto exchange Thodex have been unable to access their digital assets since the exchange’s sudden halt of trading yesterday, garnering complaints from the disgruntled users.
This has led to the users filing a complaint alleging fraud. The attorney representing an unknown number of Thodex users, Oguz Evren Kilic, suspects that as many as millions of dollars may have been stolen.
Kilic said that, considering that there are about 390,000 active users in the exchange, the total value of the “stolen” assets may amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. An Istanbulite prosecutor has started an investigation.
Kilic suspected that the Thodex CEO and Founder, Faruk Fatih Ozer, secretly left Turkey on a commercial flight from Istanbul on Wednesday evening. Ozer has been unreachable, not responding to any of the calls that he has received on his mobile phone.
While the authorities and the consumers are trying to solve the mysteries surrounding Ozer, Thodex and its investment funds, the officials said that the crypto market needs to be given better regulations as soon as possible. Cases regarding alleged scams linked to crypto platforms and speculations that authorities seek stricter controls have been rising in tandem with the prices of digital tokens.
Cemil Ertem, the Senior Economic Advisor to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, suggested that the Turkish government should take swift actions. He said: “Pyramid schemes are being established in this area. Turkey will undoubtedly carry out a regulation that’s in line with its economy but also by following global developments.”
In March, Thodex announced that they would distribute millions of Dogecoins to newly registered users, in an effort to draw in more users. Although the website says that 4 million of Dogecoins have been distributed, the users’ complaints on social media suggested otherwise, with many saying that they never received them.
