Customers of controversial digital asset trading platform, World Exchange Services (WEX), continue to cite complaints about its questionable operations. The exchange’s users have now started filing police reports as it has now been over three months since their funds have been held by WEX.
$11,000 Litecoin (LTC) Deposit “Not Available”
As CryptoGlobe reported in early August, a crypto trader claimed in a Reddit post that they had deposited $11,000 in Litecoin (LTC) on WEX, however, “minutes later” their large deposit was “not available”, the exchange’s customer support representative said.
The redditor admitted that he made a bad decision to again start using WEX and that he was “100% confident” that his funds were unrecoverable – implying that the exchange stole his funds.
More recently, Rusian, a crypto trader who has been using WEX’s services, told Coindesk that 35 investigation reports have been filed so far with Russia’s Interior Ministry. Notably, there have been at least seven of these reports filed this month.
Rebranding From BTC-e
As covered, WEX was previously known as BTC-e, before rebranding itself as it was shut down by authorities last year because of its suspected involvement in money laundering. US authorities had taken down BTC-e’s website and also ordered the exchange to pay a $110 million fine.
In the summer months of 2018, an increasing number of complaints surfaced from users regarding withdrawals on WEX – which reportedly resulted in exorbitant prices that were significantly higher compared to those quoted by more established crypto exchanges.
In fact, cryptocurrency prices on WEX still remain very high as the controversial stablecoin Tether (USDT) had been trading for $6.99 on the platform.
Action Demanded Against WEX CEO
After not receiving any relevant feedback from the exchange for months, WEX’s customers are demanding that a police investigation be launched into the platform’s operations and that their funds be reimbursed immediately.
At present, Rusian said it is unclear who is operating WEX and he wants authorities to take action against the company’s CEO, Dmitri Vasiliev, and “his conspirators” – so that they are prohibited from launching any new projects in the crypto space.
Rusian said:
The main idea has been to show other users that they are not alone, that we can act together and fight for our rights by legal means.
According to WEX’s users, the exchange is currently allowing withdrawals for certain cryptos, but at very high costs. Traders on WEX have only been able to withdraw Tether’s USDT, namecoin (NMC), peercoin (PPC), and Zcash (ZEC).
Who’s The Owner?
Those looking to withdraw their funds from WEX would first have to purchase these cryptocurrencies, however, their prices are so high on its platform that it may not be worth it.
Currently, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at over $8,600 on WEX – which is at least $2,000 more compared to the market average of around $6,400-$6,500.
When questioned about the operations at WEX, Vasilev had said he was no longer in control of the crypto trading platform. This, right after Russian news outlet RBC announced that WEX was going to be sold to a militia fighter in Ukraine named Dmitry Khavchenko.
Last week, Khavchenko had also told Coindesk that the deal had been finalized, however, WEX is still registered with the Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore under Vasilev’s name.
