Major crypto exchanges have offered to help the people of Turkey to overcome the consequences of this week’s devastating earthquake. While the crypto industry pledged support, the country’s financial authorities allowed the raising of relief funds through cryptocurrency donations for a charity organization.

Leading Exchanges Commit to Supporting the Victims of the Earthquake in Turkey

The global crypto trading sector has quickly reacted to the news of the deadly earthquake that brought destruction to parts of Turkey and the region. Over the past few years, the country became a growing crypto market and digital asset exchanges are now offering to help Turkish traders, their families, and neighbors in need.

Binance, the world’s largest trading platform for cryptocurrencies, announced on Tuesday it will airdrop $100 of BNB tokens to all of its users living in the most affected areas. The company said it will identify the customers that qualify based on proof of address and disperse a total of around $5 million. It also emphasized:

Crypto transfers are now increasingly being used to deliver financial aid to disaster victims as they provide fast, low-cost, borderless, and transparent transactions.

Furthermore, Binance Charity is now accepting donations in several coins that will be converted to Turkish lira and sent to an NGO. “We hope that our efforts will bring some relief to those affected. We are also calling on our industry peers to once again come together to offer support in these times of crisis,” Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao was quoted as saying.

Competitors like Huobi, Okx, Bybit, and others have promised to support Turkey as well. Okx will provide 1 million Turkish lira (over $53,000) in financial assistance for the victims of the natural disaster, according to a statement by its Chief Marketing Officer Haider Rafique. Bitget is donating the same amount of money.

Huobi CEO Justin Sun unveiled the establishment of a 2 million lira relief fund by the Tron exchange and blockchain in memory of those who lost their lives in the powerful earthquake. The death toll from the 7.8 magnitude tremor, which struck Southeastern Turkey and Western Syria on Monday, continues to rise and is already exceeding 9,000.

Coinex said in a Facebook post it’s ready to help people in both countries while Bitmex tweeted it will donate the proceeds of its trading competition this week to the Turkish Red Crescent. Bitfinex and Tether expressed their condolences and pledged 5 million lira towards immediate humanitarian aid and recovery efforts. They will also “seek ways to provide continued support towards helping Turkiye rebuild for the future.”

Our thoughts are with all the people who have been affected by the tragic Turkey-Syria earthquake today.

BitMEX will be donating the proceeds of this week’s Trading Competition to the @RedCrescent, and we encourage those who can donate to do the same. #GeçmişOlsunTürkiye

Advertisement

— BitMEX (@BitMEX) February 6, 2023

Singapore-based crypto exchange Bybit announced it will send $100,000 to Turkey’s Disaster and Management Authority (AFAD). Meanwhile, the country’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) approved an initiative by a charity called Ahbap to raise donations in cryptocurrency, according to its founder, Turkish singer Haluk Levent. The campaign will continue until Feb. 13

Do you expect other companies from the crypto industry to join these exchanges in helping Turkey to deal with the disaster? Tell us in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

A Bulgarian investor has lost a large amount of money to fraudsters who convinced him he was putting cash into cryptocurrency. The scam operated through a call center in what is becoming an established scheme for extracting money from victims lured with promises of quick profits on stock and crypto markets.

Defrauded Bulgarian Crypto Investor Sends Money to Bank Accounts Across the World

A businessman from Bulgaria has transferred over 1 million leva (more than $550,000) to scammers who suggested he could earn well from crypto assets, according to a report by the Bulgarian national broadcaster, BNT. He was persuaded by a fake consultant to send the amount to accounts at different banks, from Europe to Hong Kong.

The investor was initially contacted by a call center operated by the fraudsters offering high yields on crypto investments. This communication went on for a while and they were able to convince him that he would triple his money in no time. When the man expressed interest in the proposition, he was transferred to an encrypted chat and set up with an online account.

“The victim’s details – name and phone number – were most likely acquired from a platform he signed up to,” said Commissioner Vladimir Dimitrov, head of the cybercrime unit at the Interior Ministry’s General Directorate Combating Organized Crime.

The businessman, whose identity was not revealed by the investigators, was then offered to make a small deposit of €250 which multiplied several times in a few weeks, in virtual assets. Later, he sent tens of thousands of euros to Polish, British, and a Chinese bank.

The call center from which the targeted person got the initial call in this case was most likely located somewhere in the Middle East, Bulgarian officials said. However, the country from which the organizers of the fraudulent scheme operated is yet to be identified.

The scam is part of a recent criminal trend in Europe that entails using call centers to entice unsuspecting victims with non-existent opportunities to invest in shares of famous global companies or cryptocurrencies.

In mid-January, authorities from Bulgaria, Serbia, Cyprus, and Germany, working with Europol and Eurojust, took down a network of call centers that “lured victims into investing large amounts of money into fake cryptocurrency schemes.” In September, last year, the Ukrainian police busted a similar criminal organization defrauding investors across Europe.

Do you think this trend of scammers using call centers to extract money from potential crypto investors will continue? Tell us in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Alfa-Bank, one of the major Russian banking institutions, has established its own platform for digital financial assets. The launch became possible after Russia’s monetary authority added Alfa-Bank to its register of digital asset issuers this week.

Privately-Owned Alfa-Bank Sets Up Digital Asset Platform With Central Bank’s Permission

Russia’s Alfa-Bank has launched ‘A-Token,’ a platform allowing the issuance of digital financial assets (DFAs), the business news portal RBC reported, quoting its Director of Innovation Denis Dodon. The bank was able to do so after the Bank of Russia announced its registration as a DFA issuer on Thursday.

The authorization makes Alfa-Bank, which is the country’s biggest private bank, the second-largest banking institution that can mint digital coins, after the state-owned Sberbank, which is the largest bank in the Russian Federation in terms of assets.

The list of licensees also includes the fintech company Lighthouse, which is cooperating with VTB bank, and the tokenization service Atomyze, which is working in partnership with Rosbank. These have already issued various digital assets. Sberbank is preparing to launch a defi platform as well.

Alfa-Bank plans to issue its own DFAs on the new platform, with a pilot release scheduled for the end of February. It also wants to provide its infrastructure to other market participants. The bank hopes to work with both investment companies and private investors and A-Token will be accessible through its mobile app.

Dodon further explained that the platform will issue two types of financial instruments — DFAs equivalent to traditional financial instruments in the form of monetary claims and entirely new investment instruments, including tokenized physical assets such as precious metals.

Alfa-Bank announced its intentions to create an infrastructure for DFAs in September, 2022. Their issuance in Russia is regulated by the law “On Digital Financial Assets” which went into force in January, 2021. While this legislation is mostly devoted to digital assets that have an issuer, Russian authorities have been also developing a legal framework for decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

Crypto payments have been considered in Moscow as a way to circumvent Western financial restrictions imposed over the war in Ukraine and a digital ruble is also in the making. Both Alfa-Bank and Sberbank have been placed under sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department and Russian access to crypto assets has been targeted by the European Union.

Do you expect other Russian banks to launch digital asset platforms in the future? Tell us in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Olga Zinovskaya / Shutterstock.com

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.