Turkish crypto exchange Thodex stopped operating yesterday, Wednesday, without warning. As a result, its 391,000 active customers have lost access to their wallets.
Yesterday, Thodex announced on Twitter it would have to cease its operations for 4-5 business days in order to attract external investment. This is supposedly necessary to transfer a stake in the company to a new partner, and the investment will help improve the customer experience. The exchange has not provided any other information about the transaction. Lawyer Oğuz Evren Kılıç, who has filed a lawsuit against Thodex, said in a conversation with Decrypt:
"But this may well be a scam."
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He has also said citing a police report that Thodex CEO Faruk Fatih Özer left Turkey on Tuesday night and has deleted his social media accounts. In addition, the company has stopped all customer support. Kılıç estimates that the amount of funds in Thodex's accounts to be between $2 billion and $10 billion. Oğuz Evren Kılıç added:
"But we do not know the exact amount and whether that will be enough for everyone."
Between March 15 and April 15, the exchange run a very successful campaign to reward its new customers with 150 Dogecoin. This has reportedly helped attract thousands of users, which in turn has resulted in record trading volumes. At the same time, users claim that since last April 14, Dogecoin has been trading on Thodex at a fixed price of $0.1145750, while on platforms around the world its price has increased above $0.40. The exchange did not allow users to withdraw coins acquired in this way, arguing technical problems, which rather looks like a strategy to attract additional investments before an exit scam.