Vladimir Smerkis, a former Binance Russian executive and former co-founder of Blum, has been arrested in Moscow on fraud charges

BlockBeats News: On May 19th, according to TheBlock, Vladimir Smerkis, co-founder of the Telegram mini app Blum (formerly the general manager of Binance in Russia and the CIS region), was arrested in Moscow on fraud charges. The Moscow Zaporizhzhia Voletsky Court has determined that he is suspected of "major fraud", and the specific amount involved has not been disclosed. Market speculation suggests that it may be related to its early operations in The Token Fund and Tokenbox projects, which raised millions of dollars before disappearing. The official X account of Blum has issued an urgent statement stating that Smerkis has resigned from his position as CMO and will no longer participate in project development or co-founder affairs. It emphasizes that team operations will not be affected and the airdrop plan will continue to advance as originally planned in Q2 2025. Blum has been supported by Binance Labs' Most Valuable Builder accelerator.