PANews reported on May 19 that Vladimir Smerkis, co-founder of Telegram Mini App "Blum" and former head of Binance CIS, was arrested in Moscow on suspicion of large-scale fraud. The Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow approved the request for his detention and launched an investigation under Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code (particularly large-scale fraud).
The Blum project subsequently announced that Smerkis had resigned as chief marketing officer and was no longer involved in project development or co-founder roles. Reports suggest that the charges may be related to his previous projects The Token Fund and Tokenbox, which raised millions of dollars but ultimately failed to deliver on their promises, causing investors to suffer losses.
Blum launched the "Drop Game" in May 2024, where users earn "Blum Points" by clicking on snowflakes on the screen, and promised to redeem them for tokens in the future. However, the airdrop plan has been postponed several times, and there is no clear timetable for the token generation event (TGE) so far.
