blockworks.co
Nexo filed an arbitration claim against Bulgaria for $3 billion.
The crypto trading platform is seeking payment for both material and reputational damages caused by the Bulgarian investigation announced last year. Nexo, in a press release, also alleged that some “planned business activities” were “abandoned” due to the investigation.
One such venture was a possible funding round and potential IPO on a US stock exchange.
Nexo, however, phased out its US operations back in 2022. At the time, it said that it had engaged in “more than 18 months of good-faith dialogue with US state and federal regulators” but it was unable to assure customers that the regulators were “focused on their best interests.”
“Our growth path has been slowed down and opportunities lost or significantly delayed. I personally promised 10 months ago that we would explore all legal means available to secure financial compensation for Nexo,” Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of Nexo, said.
The arbitration claim was submitted at the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington, DC.
In December, Bulgaria announced that it ended the investigation into Nexo. The investigation — launched in January 2023 — looked into alleged financial crimes. Nexo’s offices were raided in an attempt to uncover various alleged crimes including tax evasion and fraud.
When the prosecutor’s office announced that it was dropping the investigation, it noted that Bulgaria “lacks a corresponding legal regime for the activity related to services with crypto assets,” and “the Nexo group companies are not subject to permit, registration or licensing regimes.”
“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,” Trenchev told Blockworks at the time.