Ozer’s Passing Sparks Renewed Demands for Tighter International Cryptocurrency Regulation

Faruk Fatih Ozer, who established and previously led the now-defunct Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, was discovered deceased in his jail cell on November 1, 2025. Authorities immediately began investigating whether the 32-year-old’s death was a suicide. Ozer had been sentenced to 11,196 years in prison for masterminding a $2.6 billion fraud, which ranks among the most significant crypto scams ever recorded, according to a

. News of his passing has renewed attention on Thodex’s 2021 downfall and sparked fresh demands for tighter international oversight of the crypto industry, as noted by a .

Ozer, who left school before graduating high school and gained fame as Thodex’s founder, escaped to Albania following the platform’s sudden closure in April 2021, which left 390,000 users unable to access their funds. He was apprehended in Albania in August 2022 and later extradited to Turkey, where he was found guilty of fraud, money laundering, and leading a criminal group, according to

. The length of his sentence—determined by adding up penalties for each of the 2,027 victims—was described as “inhumane” by Turkish outlets and on . Ozer’s siblings and senior managers also received long prison terms, while 16 individuals were acquitted due to lack of evidence, according to a .

The Thodex scandal revealed deep-rooted weaknesses in the cryptocurrency industry. Prosecutors initially assessed the losses at $24 million, but Turkish news sources and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis later raised the estimate to $2.6 billion, as detailed by CryptoTimes. During Ozer’s trial, it was alleged that he diverted $253.71 million in crypto assets through fraudulent means, transferring the money into wallets he controlled—a detail later emphasized in Bitget’s reporting. The incident highlighted the dangers of unregulated exchanges, with critics pointing to a lack of transparency in the investigation and inconsistencies between the original and updated loss figures, as reported by Bitget.

Ozer’s passing has fueled ongoing discussions about safeguarding investors in the digital asset market. Turkish regulators have since enacted new rules, but the episode continues to serve as a warning for authorities globally. “The Thodex affair demonstrates the pressing need for comprehensive regulation to avert similar disasters,” commented an industry expert, reflecting the views of lawmakers and financial professionals cited by CryptoTimes. The probe into Ozer’s death is ongoing, with officials reviewing prison conditions and the mental health of inmates serving lengthy sentences—an issue also brought up in Bitget’s reporting.

---