The Finiko pyramid scheme accepted only cryptocurrencies from investors, but not fiat funds. This was stated by the project’s founder Kirill Doronin in an interview on the program \u201cHonest Detective\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to him, the impossibility of accepting fiat was due to a technical feature of the platform.<\/p>\n
\n\u00abPeople could not deposit anything in rubles, because initially the relationship between users and the system was built on cryptocurrencies. It is impossible to access the platform without cryptocurrency, without having deposited bitcoins into a crypto wallet. Personally, no money was brought to me by people. I did not commit embezzlement or deceit\u00bb, \u2013 Doronin noted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Doronin insists that Finiko was not a pyramid scheme. Now his lawyers are preparing a motion to conduct an examination by the Bank of Russia to identify violations in their handling of cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n
Disclaimer<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cFiniko\u201d has been included in the central bank’s blacklist since February 2021 as a company exhibiting signs of a financial pyramid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The founder of Finiko said that he was surprised by his arrest, since, in his words, the platform had been operating successfully and without a hitch for three years.<\/p>\n
\n\u00abI tried to resume the work of returning cryptocurrency, and even set up the payout process, i.e., \u201cFiniko\u201d paid investors up to $40 000 a day. Payouts were made in bitcoins. Of course, I would have continued the payouts to investors and increased them if it had not been for the decision to arrest me\u00bb, \u2013 added Kirill Doronin.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Earlier, Kirill Doronin has been under arrest<\/a> since the end of July 2021.<\/p>\n
Co-founders Edward and Marat Sabirov, as well as Zygmunt Zygmuntowicz, have been declared in a international arrest warrant and arrested in absentia<\/a>. According to investigators, they left Russia via Belarus and may be located in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
The total damage from Finiko’s activities, according to independent estimates, exceeds $4 billion<\/a>. The number of victims is no less than 850,000 people.<\/p>\n