Estonian Duo Guilty of $577M Crypto Ponzi, Faces 20 Years- DOJ

Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin, residents of Estonia, have pleaded guilty to a multi-million crypto fraud. Worth noting that both these individuals were involved in the operation of a now-defunct cloud mining company, HashFlare

According to the United States Department of Justice, the identified crypto ponzi scheme is estimated to be valued at $577 million. The company HashFlare enabled users to mine crypto such as Bitcoin and Ether by owning their physical mining rigs

During its business days between 2015 and 2019, HashFlare was also offering services of hash power lease by paying some rent

DOJ’s documents note that the company was falsifying the profit over its web platforms, yet the company was capable of handling huge transactions as it promised to its investors

Polybius, a fake crypto bank, promoted

The Department of Justice of the U.S. has highlighted that the operators of HashFlare also suggested the investors to Polybius, a fake crypto bank; the bank has reportedly not paid their customers back, leaving thousands of investors in losses

Polybius has victimized the people of the United States with its presence in several nations. Following the surge of complaints and failing to pay, the pair led the operation at a slower pace and ultimately paused the entire scheme, netting over $500 million

A few other media outlets also reported that Polybius, a crypto bank, was founded by these two individuals from the amount collected from the funding process. After the company HashFlare went out of the market, enforcement units received dozens of complaints, and Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin were arrested in Tallinn

Following the arrest, both the masterminds will be sent to jail for 20 years; the DOJ said the looted fund was used to buy expensive properties, cars, and other gadgets

Nowadays, becoming rich in less time is possible from crypto, but it is mandatory to carry out any illicit activity. But trading with knowledge and strategy could also help net good profits

The extradition of the arrested pair has been done after all formalities and paperwork with Estonian police and authorities. In terms of population, Estonia is one of the smallest countries, with 13.25 lakhs population

Earlier on February 13, the enforcement agencies of India initiated an operation to investigate firms of crypto-based companies based in Estonia and Hong Kong

Crypto market price updates

Until publishing, the cryptocurrency market capitalization was $3.21 trillion, and at the same time, trading volume was $98.7 billion, with a loss of 29 percent. Bitcoin has been exchanging hands at $96,488

In the past 24 hours, the gainer’s list has been ruled by Dogwifhat, Official Trump, Jupiter, and XRP, yet the losers are PancakeSwap, BNB, Mantra, and TRX

At the moment, DeFi’s total volume is $7.54 billion, or 7.64% of the 24-hour volume of the entire cryptocurrency market, the total volume of all stablecoins is $89.23 billion, or 90.41% of the 24-hour volume of the crypto market.