Nexo Bitcoin Withdrawals Surge Following Raid of Bulgarian Offices

After the offices of crypto lender Nexo were raided in Bulgaria, the digital currency lending platform experienced a significant amount of withdrawals starting Jan. 12, 2023. An archived snapshot of Nexo’s real-time attestation shows that the company held 133,263 bitcoin on that day. As of Jan. 13, 2023, Nexo’s attestation indicates that the company now holds 124,939 bitcoin, with $157.21 million worth of bitcoin having been withdrawn during the past 24 hours.

Customers Withdraw $157 Million Worth of Bitcoin From Nexo’s Platform in 24 Hours

Last year, a number of exchanges experienced withdrawal stress tests, and after Nexo‘s office raid on Thursday, the crypto lender is dealing with similar issues. Reports on Jan. 12, 2023, disclosed that Nexo is under investigation by Bulgaria’s attorney general and roughly 300 investigators from various agencies. The company is accused of violating tax requirements, participating in money laundering, and bypassing financial sanctions associated with the Russian Federation.

Nexo has denied any wrongdoing and immediately issued a statement on Twitter to the community that the company adheres to “very stringent anti-money laundering and know-your-customer policies.” Following the incident, the company has seen a flurry of withdrawals according to its real-time attestation website. For example, on Jan. 3, 2023, Nexo held around 134,203 bitcoin, valued at $2.5 billion using current BTC exchange rates. By Jan. 12, 2023, the crypto lender’s BTC stash had decreased to 133,263 bitcoin.

Twenty-four hours later, on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, Nexo’s BTC stash had decreased by 8,324 BTC to the current level of 124,939 BTC. This means that using current BTC exchange rates, $157.21 million was withdrawn from Nexo’s cache of bitcoin. Nexo’s withdrawals follow a number of other exchanges that have experienced large withdrawals in a short period of time. After the collapse of FTX, users withdrew a significant amount of digital assets from exchanges such as Binance, Kucoin, and Crypto.com.

It is unclear what will happen with the case against Nexo in Bulgaria, but with the rate of withdrawals over the past day, it appears customers are concerned. When speaking with The Block’s reporter Yogita Khatri, Nexo’s co-founder Antoni Trenchev said the withdrawals represented only 2% of the company’s assets under management (AUM). “Nexo can confirm that all systems are up and running and everything is being processed in real-time as always,” Trenchev told Khatri on Friday. “Activity is orders of magnitude smaller than post-Celsius and post-FTX,” the Nexo executive added.

What are your thoughts on the recent withdrawals from Nexo and the ongoing investigation in Bulgaria? Share your opinions in the comments below.