What was the announcement about?
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco led the press conference announcing the move, describing it as a significant blow to the crypto thugs, fraudsters and hackers operating in it.
Anatoly Legkodymov, the alleged founder of the Bitzlato exchange, was arrested in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday and will face charges in U.S. District Court in Florida later on Wednesday.
“Currency trading institutions are not above the law and their owners are not beyond our reach,” US attorney Breon Peace said.
Bitzlato has marketed itself to criminals as a crypto exchange that doesn’t ask difficult questions and has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in deposits as a result. The defendant is now paying the price for the malicious role his company played in the crypto ecosystem.
At least investors can breathe a sigh of relief. The announcement is aimed at a specific crypto exchange and not the entire crypto market, which means that the price increase of the past few weeks could possibly resume.