246,000 Users Lose Their Crypto as Bitsane Exchange Disappears

The Ireland-based cryptocurrency exchange, Bitsane has reportedly disappeared, making way with hundreds of thousands of users’ assets with it, according to the report by Forbes on Thursday.

Per the account holders, the issue began in May, following a series of failed attempts to withdraw Bitcoin, XRP and other cryptocurrencies in their portfolio. The exchange’s support team wrote in their emails that withdrawal was “temporarily disabled due to technical reasons.” 

Later on June 17, Bitsane’s website completely went offline, alongside with their Facebook and Twitter accounts disabled. Also, emails sent to Bitsane by the users now are returned undelivered.

Most of the victims on Facebook and Telegram had compared their losses, with some claiming to have lost about $5,000. One of the victims in the U.S. disclosed he lost $150,000 worth of Bitcoin and to Bitsane disappearance, Forbes reported.

“I was trying to transfer XRP out to bitcoin or cash or anything, and it kept saying ‘temporarily disabled.’ I knew right away there was some kind of problem,” he said, adding that, the tickets weren’t pending and he couldn’t access the exchange either.

According to the data on Bitsane website, the exchange had over 246,000 registered users as of May 30, with $7 million daily trading volume on March 31, according to MarketCap.

In November 2016, Bitsane reportedly went live as Bitsane LP, registered in Dublin under CEO Aidas Rupsys, and Dmitry Prudnikov as its Chief Technology Officer. Neither Rupsys nor Prudnikov could be reached for comment.

Bitsane Limited filed for dissolution on May 16, because “Zmitrovich wasn’t doing anything with it,” and Bitsane registration was up for renewal. Some of the victims believe Zmitrovich as part of the scam due to the public filing. 

However, Zmitrovich said the accusations against him are unfounded. He was unable to speak with Prudnikov for five months now.

“I’m sick and tired of these accusations,” Zmitrovich said. “This company didn’t even have a bank account.”

Meanwhile, in a similar development, Coinfomania reported yesterday that Singapore-based crypto exchange, Bitrue lost $3.6 million to a security breach. The exchange, however, has paid back the said sum to affected users.