$2B Worth Of Crypto Might Be Stolen As Turkish Exchange Halts Operations

Major Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex ceased its activities, leaving its users scared of losing their funds.

What Happened: On April 21, Thodex tweeted an announcement about the halting of its activity for four to five days.

The exchange claimed that it halted withdrawals and trading to perform integration with financial institutions and that this will improve its services.

The cryptocurrency trading platform reassured its users that they should not be worried about the safety of their assets and that they will be kept updated about the developments.

The events also closely follow Thodex announcing a 6-hour maintenance service suspension on April 20.

Why It Matters: The community showed concern and suspicion about the exchange purportedly halting its services for an update that would take this long without any prior warning.

See also: Cryptocurrency Wallets For Beginners: 3 Must-Have Features

Local news outlet HaberTurk reported that the company’s founder Faruk Fatih Özer fled to Thailand with $2 billion of user funds and performing an exit scam.

He purportedly left on a plane departing from the Istanbul Airport on Tuesday, as local law enforcement launched a criminal investigation against the firm and raided its offices.