from Hacker News

Bulgarian law enforcement raids offices of cryptocurrency firm Nexo

by gchokov on 1/12/23, 11:42 AM with 127 comments

  • by Kaizeras on 1/12/23, 2:02 PM

    An ex-colleague of mine worked for OneCoin (another crypto scam originating from Bulgaria) when their offices got raided a few years ago. Now he’s an engineering manager at Nexo.

    I can see a pattern emerging in his career.

  • by raesene9 on 1/12/23, 2:29 PM

    It feels like the skeptics, who were pointing out last year that the rates on crypto yield products, were too good to be true, had a point.

    That's Celsius, Voyager, Blockfi, Genesis and now nexo all in some level of financial/legal trouble.

    The question is how much is still to be uncovered.

  • by danuker on 1/12/23, 12:10 PM

    Yield products without a banking license, "proof that a Nexo client [...] was a person officially designated as financing terrorism".

    You'd think crypto exchanges would be more cautious, given the controversial nature of their business.

  • by pfoof on 1/12/23, 2:23 PM

    They just didn't share the revenue with proper people

  • by jesuscript on 1/12/23, 3:07 PM

    How long before a good PR team re-brands crypto as "Alternative Finance Vehicles"? Feel like that crypto brand is taking quite the beating now days.

    Not Crypto, AFVs.

    The pitch:

    This is not another scam Crypto startup. This is an institutionally backed, fully transparent AFV.

    VCs:

    Oh, I see. Yep we're in.

  • by kevinak on 1/12/23, 3:24 PM

  • by igammarays on 1/12/23, 2:00 PM

    I've noticed a recent spate of crackdowns on "hustlers" in the Eastern European space. See the recent takedown of Andrew Tate in Romania, for example, and now this.

  • by nikolay on 1/13/23, 10:40 AM

    I've recently tried sending money using different cryptos - Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDC - this was the slowest, most expensive, and overly complicated funds transfer I've ever done! During the same week, I transferred money via Wise and Revolut - from one currency to another, etc. Of course, that latter beats any crypto! Not to mention that with regular wires you're charged a fixed fee - even if you send millions, the cost is the same, unlike with crypto, which ended up being a huge percentage trying different means to minimize the cost. To be honest, the only wonderful thing crypto offers is the ability to sign stuff with your wallet right in the browser - nothing else in the crypto world makes any sense! Everything else is just an elaborate pyramid or daylight robbery scheme and nothing more!

  • by riialist on 1/12/23, 6:32 PM

    The crypto business seems to be a bit on a "Winter is coming, and it will last for years" -phase in EU.

    An European Parliament vice-president and law-maker who was the most prominent lobbyist for more lax money-loundry regulation for cryptocurrencies is currently under detention - for money loundering and corruption.

    And yes I think cryptocurrencies will prevail in some form sooner or later, it's just not so good publicity that some of the most vocal proponents are caught red-handed with bags full of half a million euros.

    https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/12/12/pro-crypto-eu-law...

  • by louwrentius on 1/12/23, 1:52 PM

    > She said that investigators had proof that a Nexo client, who used the company’s platform to transfer cryptocurrencies, was a person officially designated as financing terrorism, but gave no further details.

    All crypto is some form of crime, money laundering, evading sanctions, funding terrorism, or just a ponzi scheme, it's just different sides of the same thing.

    I wish this space would totally collapse. Maybe if Tether (which is totally insolvent) collapses the whole space just dies.

    That would make the world a better place.

    Yes, it's true: the dollar or any other currency can be used for nefarious purposes as well, but that's why we have so much financial regulations and oversight (which should be better). And most of all, the upsides of regular currency (if you can call crypto a currency at all) is that it's the foundation of our societies.

    I just want to see all crypto die in a fire. The profound negative impact crypto has had on our world with zero benefits makes me so sad.