Blum Founder Arrested

[Suba]

Blum, a popular airdrop crypto project based on the popular Telegram app, where users can trade on the DEX feature, seems to be in a state of depression and crisis after Blum founder Vladimir Smerkis was arrested by Russian authorities for fraud. Smerkis was arrested in Moscow on May 18, 2025, and is being tried in the Zamoskvoretsky District Court.

According to state news agency TASS, Smerkis previously served as Binance's chief operating officer for Russia, and served as Chief Marketing Officer for the Blum app.
According to an article from local media outlet Mash, Smerkis was involved in fraud related to the old 2017 crypto projects The Token Fund and Tokenbox which caused investors to lose more than $15M.

A tweet from @blumcrypto on the X account, (x.com/blumcrypto/status/1923800818798449140), Sunday (05/18/2025), announced that Smerkis had resigned as CMO on the Blum airdrop project.

 

[Starmix]

What a fate a famous and wealthy man arrested. He won't be arrested if the accusation isn't true. Indeed there is no forever. From living in luxury , now living like hell in jail.

 

[eLdavis]

If this is really true, then he should be properly punished, but proper investigation should be made about it.