Nexo’s offices in Sofia were raided by the Bulgarian police on suspicion of illegal activities. According to the authorities, Nexo was involved in money laundering, tax fraud, unlicensed banking activities, and violations of sanctions against Russia, among other crimes.
The raids were conducted as part of an international investigation into Nexo’s operations. According to Siyka Mileva, the spokesperson for the Attorney General, the investigations are currently limited to the firm’s offices in Sofia.
“It has been established that the main organizers of the international platform are Bulgarian citizens and the main activities are from Bulgarian territory.”
Local news outlets reported that over 300 police officials and investigators were involved in the probe.
In response, Nexo posted a series of tweets denying the allegations. The crypto lender stressed that it has always cooperated with relevant authorities and maintained strict AML and KYC policies to safeguard clients’ funds, adding,
“Unfortunately, with the recent regulatory crackdown on crypto, some regulators have recently adopted the kick first, ask questions later approach.”
Nexo’s Co-Founder, Antoni Trenchev, called the accusations against the firm absurd. He noted that the probe was a coordinated attack by Bulgarian officials. In his words,
"[The authorities] are inquiring about a Bulgarian entity of the group that is not customer facing but only has OpEx [operational expenditure] related functions."
The NEXO token has dropped from its weekly high of $0.7584 following the probe. It is currently priced at $0.7033, down by over 2% in the last 24 hours.
Written by
Ayush Pande
Ayush Pande is a hardware, gaming, and crypto writer based in India. He's a tech enthusiast who's fascinated by the potential of blockchain technology.
Connect with Ayush on LinkedIn
