A court-appointed liquidator, Dewald Breytenbach of National Liquidators, recently claimed that out of the 76 bitcoins that belonged to the now-defunct South African cryptocurrency exchange, Ice3, his firm can only account for 22.
Ice3’s Abrupt Shut Down
The liquidator adds that the crypto exchange’s Zurich-based tech provider Merkeleon is now being asked to help unravel this mystery.
These new revelations by the South African liquidator are coming some six months after Ice3 abruptly stopped processing withdrawals. At the time of the announcement, the exchange’s management claimed the decision to suspend BTC and LTC withdrawals had been taken in order to protect users. However, just a few weeks after reassuring its users, Ice3 was abruptly shut down.
Some reports then attributed Ice3’s decision to cease operations to the liquidity challenges which were being experienced by the exchange. Yet, according to an explanation now being offered by a Moneyweb report, Ice3 management’s decision to suspend withdrawals and to cease operations could be linked to the exchange’s dispute with Europe based Merkeleon.
Quoting Breytenbach, the report explains:
The problem [at Ice3] appears to have started when a dispute arose between iCE3 and its platform provider, Merkeleon, based in Europe.
Partnership Arrangement
The report also adds the Ice3 management team was under the impression a partnership arrangement existed with Merkeleon. Such a partnership meant the crypto exchange through its CEO, Gareth Grobler, would develop the software on which Ice3 operated while Merkeleon took care of the administration.
Therefore, in order to establish the exact nature of the arrangement, Breytenbach says he has been in touch with Merkeleon. The liquidator says he is hopeful his firm will soon get the information it is seeking.
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