US to Release Jailed BTC-e Operator Vinnik in Russia Prisoner Swap

Alexander Vinnik, the jailed former operator of once mighty bitcoin exchange BTC-e, is being released from U.S. custody as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia.

Vinnik, 44, is being swapped with jailed American teacher Marc Fogel, who returned to the U.S. last night after negotiators struck a surprise breakthrough with the Kremlin. It had not immediately been clear who was on the other side of the deal.

But BTC-e was one of the early exchanges that popularized the buying and selling of the world’s most popular digital asset. It had over 1 million customers and moved over $9 billion of transactions between 2011 and 2017.

Its popularity also fostered a thriving criminal underground who relied on it to move in and out of ill-gotten bitcoin proceeds, according to U.S. prosecutors. They accused Vinnik of operating BTC-e “with the intent to promote” drug dealers, money launders and other cybercriminals, and caused the loss of $121 million.

Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017 and ultimately extradited to the U.S. He pled guilty to money laundering conspiracy in 2024 and faced a maximum of 20 years in prison.

His lawyers had previously lobbied unsuccessfully for his inclusion in other high-profile U.S.-Russia prisoner exchanges, like last year’s deal over formerly jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.