Something Strange Is Going On at a Crypto Exchange Called WEX

Users of WEX, the cryptocurrency exchange built on the ashes of BTC-e, are reporting withdrawal problems, raising new questions about an already mysterious trading platform.

"‏Dear Wex, when withdraws will enable ??" asked Twitter user Alireza Moosavi on Friday, joining a crowd of Wex customers complaining they couldn't withdraw their funds for the second day in a row.

Stepping back, WEX was launched last year in an apparent effort to resurrect BTC-e, a long-running bitcoin exchange that was targeted and eventually shut down by U.S. and Greek law enforcement officials.

Although WEX claimed to be unrelated to BTC-e, its website design and trading pairs were very similar and it was pitched as a service for former BTC-e customers.

In a July 12 post on Facebook, Dmitry Vassiliev - who, according to Singapore records obtained by Russian news agency RBK, is listed as the owner of WEX's operator, World Exchange Services - attributed the price disparities to the actions of Dmitry Sutormin, who he described as a former WEX manager.

Sutormin "Carried out the purchase and sale of WEX codes in any volumes," Vassiliev explained, "Which means that there are a lot of codes on the market ... now all those who bought those codes want to buy bitcoin, exchange rate goes up, as very few wish to sell."

The website also published a copy of the claims made against WEX. Carty reportedly sued WEX over funds previously held on BTC-e prior to its collapse, arguing that once she was able to regain access, some of the funds went missing, including more than 11,000 litecoins.

Statements from Vassiliev suggest that it's not entirely clear who is in charge of WEX at the moment.

Khavchenko, in turn, told RBK that he was going to move WEX's office to Crimea and register the managing company in the war-torn region of Ukraine known as Donbass.

WEX denied that the exchange is going to be sold on Twitter, and the exchange did not immediately respond to questions regarding who is in charge or why, exactly, its prices shot up earlier this week.