Blum co-founder, Vladimir Smerkis, has just been arrested in Russia on charges of large-scale fraud, according to local media.
Smerkis was previously the Chief Operating Officer for Binance's operations in Russia and the CIS region. He was arrested on Friday at the Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow. According to TASS, the case involves "a criminal investigation into particularly serious fraud," although the official charges have not yet been published. Some sources suggest that the arrest may be related to previous projects Smerkis managed such as The Token Fund and Tokenbox, which raised millions of USD but gradually disappeared from the market.
Immediately after the news broke, Blum quickly declared separation from Smerkis. On the official X account, Blum announced that he has left the position of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and is no longer involved in development activities or holding a co-founder role.
Blum is a mini app on Telegram that combines a cryptocurrency exchange and a points-earning game. The project was previously supported by Binance Labs through the Most Valuable Builder incubation program. In May 2024, Blum launched the "Drop Game", where users click on snowflakes to accumulate "Blum Points" - reward points that promised potential conversion to tokens in a future airdrop.
However, after multiple delays and adding new "airdrop seasons", users still have not received tokens. The game ended on May 14, and the airdrop is currently promised to occur in Q2/2025. Smerkis's arrest has led many to doubt whether the airdrop will actually take place.
Blum stated: "We thank Vladimir for his past contributions and wish him success on his new path. The Blum team remains focused on development and daily operations continue as normal."
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The article Blum Co-Founder Arrested in Moscow on Fraud Charges first appeared on CoinMoi.
