Bulgarian authorities have officially closed their investigation into the crypto lending platform Nexo, citing a lack of substantial evidence to support the allegations brought against the company.
The Bulgarian News Agency confirmed this development on Friday.
The decision comes as a significant relief to Nexo, which had been under scrutiny since earlier in the year, when Bulgarian offices were subjected to raids as part of the investigation.
The initial probe had levied a range of charges against Nexo, including tax offenses, unlicensed banking activities, money laundering, and computer fraud.
The investigation had specifically targeted four Nexo executives: Kosta Kanchev, Antoni Trenchev, Kalin Metodiev, and Trayan Nikolov.
However, the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office ultimately found no concrete evidence of money laundering, tax evasion, or computer fraud, and they could not establish that Nexo had been conducting banking activities without the required license.
Antoni Trenchev, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Nexo, expressed his satisfaction with the outcome, stating, “The dropping of all charges made against Nexo and its executives by the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office, with their confirmation that there were no crimes, unequivocally shows that the whole attack on Nexo was political and should not have happened in the first place.
It also goes a long way in clearing our names and is a vindication for all good actors in crypto – we are very content with this result.”
Nexo is primarily known for providing crypto lending services, offering attractive interest rates of up to 16 percent annually on crypto deposits.
According to the company’s website, it has disbursed over $200 million in interest payments to more than 6 million users.
Nexo also offers various other services, including cryptocurrency purchasing and exchange, borrowing against crypto assets, and a payment card.
It’s worth noting that Nexo has previously reached settlements with both federal and state regulators in the United States, agreeing to pay a total of $46.5 million. U.S. authorities had raised concerns about Nexo’s ‘Earn Interest Product,’ suggesting it could be classified as a security.
As part of the settlement, Nexo ceased offering the questioned products.
Bulgarian authorities emphasized that Nexo operated online within the country and “probably” maintained its main operations outside the nation’s borders.
This decision to close the investigation comes as a significant development for Nexo and underscores the complex regulatory landscape surrounding cryptocurrency platforms.