Posted:

June 24, 2021 01:13 GMT

The South African cryptocurrency exchange stopped operating in April. Then its founders claimed to be victims of “piracy”.

the brothers Prince and Chief KageThe founders of cryptocurrency exchange Africrypt in Cape Town, South Africa have disappeared with $3.6 billion worth of bitcoin owned by their platform users, local independent online media reported last week.IOL) e ITWeb.

Afript stopped working two months ago. Amir and Rais, aged 17 and 20 respectively, then attributed the suspension of operations on their platform to “piracy” and demanded that their clients not take legal action against them. “It is understood that customers can proceed legally, but we ask that you acknowledge that alone It will delay the recovery processThey announced in April.

Immediately after this announcement, investors became even more skeptical, discouraged from filing lawsuits. The fact that the two brothers had stopped replying to messages and were available did not inspire confidence either.

Some investors have turned to the services of legal teams from private companies such as Hanikom lawyers, due to a possible scam, which by the end of April a clearance process Temporary cryptocurrency exchange, at the request of a group of investors.

Transfers on the Dark Web and other anomalies

Hanekom’s lawyers investigated Africrypt’s transactions and found that funds were apparently transferred from South African digital wallets and accounts, via ‘dark web’ mugs and mixers, causing massive asset fragmentation, making them virtually untraceable.

In the opinion of that company, despite the fact that the downfall of the crypto exchange was the result of a “hack,” there was an anomaly: between April 9 and 13, the same delivery address that was used in January for existing Africrypt operations was used. Therefore, the ‘hack’ is the source of the dispersal of funds, It seems out of place Under these circumstances, company founder Darren Hanicum said.

In addition, AFRIKET employees have lost access to the system’s backend A week before the alleged “hack”without being able to access the platform’s customer balances.

The official investigation into the Africrypt case is hampered by the fact that South African financial authorities lacking competence In this regard, since cryptocurrencies are not recognized as financial products in the country from a legal point of view.

Meanwhile, the prince and chief of Kage are believed to have escaped to United kingdom, the country where Hanekom’s lawyers discovered a diversion related to its business prior to the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange.

Crime in the world of cryptocurrency

According to a report by encryptionBy the end of April this year, major cryptocurrency thefts, ‘hacking’ and fraud of this kind have been added 432 million dollars.

Although this number is lower than in previous years, “hacks” related to decentralized finance – that is, the lack of intermediaries such as banks – now account for More than 60% of the total number of “hacks” and theft, which is a 25% increase from 2020. Just a year ago, in 2019, these practices were essentially non-existent, the report says.