Moscow Authorities Arrest Co-Founder of ‘Tap to Earn’ Crypto Game Blum ⋆ ZyCrypto
The post Moscow Authorities Arrest Co-Founder of ‘Tap to Earn’ Crypto Game Blum ⋆ ZyCrypto appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Advertisement     Moscow authorities arrested Vladimir Smerkis, co-founder of crypto game Blum and former head of Binance, as part of a fraud investigation. The Zamozkoretsky District Court has not released all of the details about Smerkis’ arrest. However, the court has permitted authorities to detain Smerkis under Article 159 of the Criminal Code, which relates to severe fraud cases under Russian law. Smerkis could face 2 to 12 years imprisonment for financial crimes relating to Article 159 of the criminal code. It is not clear yet whether Smerkis will be formally charged, but he likely will. Russian outlets suggest that Smerkis may be facing charges related to his involvement in The Token Fund and Tokenbox projects, which he co-founded in 2017, and made considerable losses of $15 million. Blum, another project co-founded by Smerkis, distanced itself from Smerkis this week, pointing out that the co-founder is no longer involved with the project and that Blum is focused on their regular operations and will continue to offer their services without any interruptions. Blum is a crypto project that integrates into Telegram’s app market and provides a decentralized exchange. Blum was a popular app that included ‘tap to earn’ features, such as a game that let you tap falling snowflakes on the screen and receive crypto rewards in return, which, according to the developers, could easily be redeemed for fiat currencies such as dollars. The ‘tap to earn’ craze was very popular when Blum started their project, contributing to the gamification of crypto rewards. Gamification is a marketing strategy developers use to encourage users to spend more time on their platforms, which often results in more sales. Smerkis usually specialised in marketing, especially with the various startups he co-founded. After the news of Smerkis’ arrest, Blum quickly announced that the co-founder…
Filed under: News - @ May 20, 2025 10:29 pm