Turkish Crypto Exchange Suddenly Goes 'Dark'

A Turkish crypto exchange known as Thodex has sent alarms across the trading block by halting its operations today without prior notice.

The exchange, which has operated in Turkey since 2017, shared a statement on Twitter today in this regard. Citing some unspecified foreign investment reportedly inbound during the next 4 to 5 days, funds of more than 390,000 active traders have been locked up.

Komiksiniz, 4-5 gün işlem yaptırmama tam bi rezilliktir.Bitmeyen bakım(!) yapmışlar 2017'den beri.

Thodex is one of the most ridiculous exchange with paribu in Turkey I've ever seen in this arena… Closing trade 4-5 days for the "endless maintenance(!)" since 2017. Stay away..!

— SirSid(crypto gem hunter) (@SirSid10) April 21, 2021

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But this “may well be a scam”, according to Oğuz Evren Kılıç, a Turkish lawyer who has filed a legal complaint against Thodex, as per reports.

Kılıç estimates that the exchange accounts might be holding between $2-10 billion. An inquiry report pertaining to this case has determined that there is “some money in the bank accounts of the exchange and its owners”.

🇬🇧 If billions of dollars worth of #crypto were "lost" and then sold, what could be the impact of this incident on global markets?

Can we call this a "Turkish Mt. Gox Incident"?

— Av. Oğuz Evren Kılıç (@OguzEvrenKilic) April 21, 2021

According to some interesting Twitter trends, the Turkish exchange Thodex ran an enormous marketing campaign, rewarding every new sign-up with 150 Dogecoin between 15th March and 15th April. Thousands of new users reportedly flocked to the exchange, and its trading volume reached a daily record of $1.37 billion, the highest daily figure over the past year according to CoinGecko.

In what should have raised alarm bells, however, the exchange sold Dogecoin at a discounted fixed rate of $0.11 from 14th April. However, DOGE was worth $0.42 on April 16.

@thodexglobal
Do you think a press release after five days stating there is maintenance logical enough?
Why not a global release in English, is it global maintenance or local?
Would you be kind enough to answer these questions?#doge #dogecoin #thodex

— Kaya Dinar (@KayaDinar) April 19, 2021