A news story has emerged that brings to mind one of the darkest pages in Türkiye’s crypto world. Faruk Fatih Ozer, once seen as a young and successful entrepreneur, was found dead in Tekirdağ F-type prison. Ozer’s story shows just how dangerous the rapid rise in the crypto space can be.

Ozer, the founder of Thodex, turned into a massive exchange in the first place by drawing in more than 400,000 users. The platform, which reached daily trading volumes of billions of dollars, suddenly collapsed and $2.6 billion disappeared. According to Chainalysis reports, it was one of the largest exchange exit scams of this decade. After the incident, Ozer managed to flee to Albania, but in 2022 he was caught and in 2023 he was extradited to Türkiye.

In court, when defending himself, he claimed that he was an entrepreneur who had failed due to regulatory uncertainty. But the jury didn’t believe him. In September 2023, Ozer and his brothers were sentenced to 11.196 years in prison each. This sentence went down in history as one of the most severe prosecutions ever carried out in the crypto world.

Ozer’s death appears to be a turning point in Türkiye’s crypto craze. It once again reminded people just how thin the line is between dreams of making quick money and crime. The gray area between innovation and fraud in the crypto space continues to be dangerous.