Alexander Vinnik has been arrested and accused of laundering $4 billion using bitcoin. The man is also the chief suspect in the hack of Mt.Gox exchange. Vinnik, a Russian citizen who also happens to be the owner of BTC-e, one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges, was detained by Greek police force earlier today.BTC-e officials have stated on Tuesday that the site went offline due to unplanned maintenance. That and lack of further explanations sent shockwaves across the cryptocurrency market.
According to Greek police, “Since 2011 the 38-year-old has been running a criminal organization which administers one of the most important websites of electronic crime in the world.” The US Ministry of Justice seeks to extradite Alexander Vinnik to the United States.
BTC-e is currently one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, that stores 3% of bitcoin’s global supply. Not subject to US and European regulation, the exchange has become a safe haven for all types of illegal activities. According to the experts, up to 95% of all ransomware ‘profits’ ended up here. Vinnik is also reported to be behind the collapse of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange named Mt.Gox, which resulted in the loss of $2.21 billion in bitcoins.