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The scandal surrounding the nexo cryptocurrency lending platform has sparked a massive verbal struggle among the major political parties in Bulgaria. The scandal surrounding the cryptocurrency lending platform Nexo has sparked a massive verbal struggle among Bulgaria's major political parties.
GERB (the party that ruled between 2009 and 2021) alleged Democratic Bulgaria and We Continue the Change of having close ties with the distressed entity and even receiving significant donations from it.
On the contrary, many MEPs said that GERB members deliberately launched such attacks against their rivals in order to prevent them from forming a government of action.
The platform that allows users to earn interest on crypto deposits has had a rough start to the year after the Bulgarian authorities raided its local offices. The transaction took place as part of an investigation into alleged tax offences and money laundering.
The investigation quickly turned into one of the main themes in the country of Eastern Europe, while the main political parties took advantage of it to undermine the reputation of the other.
Boiko Borisov (PM of the nation between 2009 and 2021) and other members of his GERB party said five employees of Nexo donated 20,000 BGN each to Democratic Bulgaria (a major rival of the former ruling organization) in October 2021. It was found that two more crypto platform workers followed, giving the same number of days later.
GERB went even further, vowing to check whether Nexo has financed the political campaign of “We Continue the Change” (the party that won the elections in 2021 and stayed at the helm until June last year). GERB went even further, vowing to check whether Nexo has financed the political campaign of “We Continue the Change” (the party that won the elections in 2021 and stayed at the helm until June last year).
Vasilev said last year that the government has been exploring options to embrace a crypto payment mechanism “in the short to medium term.” Vasilev said last year that the government has explored options for adopting a crypto payment scheme "in the short and medium term."
Reaction to the Accusations
Members of We Continue the Change were quick to refute the allegations, claiming the scandal is one of GERB’s PR actions against its opposition.
MP Kalina Konstantinova believes the prosecution launched the Nexo investigation at the exact time when President Rumen Radev was about to give Democratic Bulgaria (a close ally of We Continue the Change) a mandate to form a government and thus leave GERB out of the equation.
'But I think people can see beyond the facade intended to divert attention from the important topic. Namely, the formation of a government and the review of one of the most important anti-corruption laws, that on the supervision of the Chief Prosecutor," she added.
Democratic Bulgaria’s leader – Hristo Ivanov – admitted that his party received donations from Nexo employees. However, he does not see anything wrong with that, saying that the transactions were publicly recorded and reported to the audit office.
"It means telling the people who gave the money, the whole Bulgarian community who gave, that there's something wrong with it," he said.
"It means telling the people who gave this money, the whole Bulgarian community who gave, that something is wrong," he said.
Ivanov shared Konstantinova’s stance that the prosecutors’ efforts against Nexo came at the right time when Democratic Bulgaria was about to obtain the chance to establish a cabinet and enforce major judiciary reforms: Let there not be some propaganda exploitation of an otherwise real investigation here.”
What About Asen Vasilev?
The former Finance Minister rejected the rumors that he had close relations with Nexo and that the platform financially backed We Continue the Change. The former finance minister rejected rumors that he had a close relationship with Nexo and that the We Continue the Change platform received financial support.
He also described the Nexo saga as a “big media smoke,” predicting that the accused executives of the cryptocurrency platform could sue Bulgaria for undermining its reputation:
He also described the Nexo saga as a "smoke of the big media," predicting that the leaders charged with the cryptocurrency platform might sue Bulgaria to undermine its reputation:
'The ultimate effect of these measures, what happens in the future, Bulgaria is likely to be condemned by those whose interests have been adversely affected, that the prosecution is going after, and we have to pay out of the budget for compensation." It asserted that it complied with all anti-money laundering policies, but some watchdogs have adopted the “kick first, ask questions later approach.”
