🔴 Arrest of former head of Binance Russia: Vladimir Smerkis detained in fraud case
— Vladimir Smerkis, the former head of Binance in Russia, has been arrested in Moscow. The charge is large-scale fraud 🧑⚖️
— The court granted the investigation's request, and Smerkis was taken into custody
— He also left his position as marketing director and co-founder of the Blum project, as announced by the team
💬 Blum — a crypto game in the spirit of Hamster Kombat, where players 'collected snowflakes' for a future coin. A listing was promised, but it never happened.
Context:
• Smerkis led Binance Russia until September 2023, before its closure
• After that, he launched Blum with Gleb Kostarev (also a former Binance employee)
• The project was suspected of delays and lack of transparency
📉 Impact on the market — local, but negative: another reason for pressure on the crypto sphere in the CIS and increased scrutiny of projects with a 'gaming' focus
Historical fact: Binance officially exited the Russian market in autumn 2023, selling the business to an unknown entity. This exit now appears increasingly ambiguous.
Subscribe — we will figure out where the game is and where it has already crossed into criminality 🔴
