Former Binance Regional Director Vladimir Smerkis Detained in Moscow

Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky Court has sanctioned the arrest of Vladimir Smerkis, former regional director of the Binance crypto exchange in Russia and the CIS. He is also known as one of the creators of the Blum project, which was positioned as an analogue of the popular Telegram game Hamster Kombat.

According to law enforcement agencies, the businessman was arrested in a case of fraud on an especially large scale. The investigation claims that he was involved in deceiving investors, using trust in the game format and promises of a tokenized reward. The court granted the investigators' motion to detain the defendant, which indicates the seriousness of the situation. In a statement, the project developers reported that Smerkis left the position of marketing director and is no longer involved in the development of the game. This statement was made shortly after the arrest and is aimed, among other things, at reassuring users who have long been waiting for the opportunity to withdraw in-game currency into the real world, but never waited for the token to be listed on exchanges.

Smerkis headed the Binance representative office in Russia and the CIS from 2022 to September 2023, until the platform was effectively liquidated amid increasing regulatory pressure. Later, together with former Binance top manager Gleb Kostarev, he announced the launch of Blum, a Telegram game where users collected digital snowflakes to supposedly gain access to a token in the future.

Earlier, the US Department of Justice confirmed that Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm will appear in court on July 14, 2025.