Fifty customers of Russian cryptocurrency exchange Beribit staged a protest at the company’s offices in Moscow.
According to reports, the unrest began on April 26 at Federation Towers, where Veribit’s offices are located, with customers demanding the return of about 400 million rubles that they had not been able to withdraw for several days.
Investors have expressed frustration about their money being ‘trapped’ during the withdrawal process, unlike the smooth deposit transactions.
Efforts by Berrybit employees to leave through an alternative exit were thwarted by angry investors, prompting police intervention.
A video circulated on Telegram claims that disgruntled customers were given chocolates instead of cash as compensation.
Russian online newspaper Mash first reported this situation through Telegram.
Gazeta.Ru picked up the story, reporting that exchange staff promised to refund 50% of the investment immediately and the remaining balance within 1-15 days.
On April 26, Veribit’s official Telegram channel announced that following the exchange’s recent management changes, a series of balance sheet inconsistencies were discovered, leading the company to institute a thorough audit process.
According to the exchange, customers also had to go through KYC/AML verification procedures, which they claimed resulted in a temporary backlog of deposit and withdrawal requests.
Beribit also stated that customers who successfully pass the KYC/AML audit and verification will regain unrestricted access to use their accounts.
Amid this turbulent situation, a bill banning the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges has reportedly been submitted to the House of Representatives. If passed, the bill will not affect cryptocurrency trading or registered mining companies. It also includes a ban on cryptocurrency advertising.
Conversely, another lawmaker argued that banning the exchange could jeopardize Russia’s national security, highlighting the role of cryptocurrencies in procuring weapons and defense assets from non-Western sources and evading sanctions.
Beribit, a registered cryptocurrency exchange that facilitates trading of ruble cryptocurrency, P2P, USDT and assets, recently came under law enforcement investigation following a search conducted at its offices in March.
The investigation coincided with a temporary website outage related to the investigation surrounding the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall.