Amid the news, the Blum team has distanced itself from the individual involved and assured that the project will continue to operate as usual.
Detention on Criminal Charges
It is reported that Smerkis was arrested on May 17 by decision of the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow. According to the TASS agency, citing law enforcement sources, the case was initiated under the article for large-scale fraud. As of publication time, official charges have not been disclosed.
According to several sources, the claims from law enforcement may not be related to Smerkis's current work at Blum, but rather to his earlier projects.
Smerkis’s first notable project in the crypto industry was The Token Fund, launched in 2017. It was one of the early cryptocurrency investment funds: users purchased the internal token $TKN with actual digital assets and were promised investment returns.
According to public sources, the project raised about $8 million in investments and gained additional profits from the crypto market’s growth. However, in 2018, the fund suddenly ceased operations, and the investors’ funds were not returned.
After that, Smerkis launched Tokenbox — a platform with a similar model. This time, $7 million was raised, and the project token $TBX was immediately listed on two crypto exchanges. However, shortly afterward, the asset rapidly lost its value, and users were once again left with nothing.
Blum Distances Itself From the Co-Founder
The day after the arrest, Blum representatives published a statement, announcing that Smerkis “has stepped down as CMO and is no longer involved in the project in any capacity.”
The team also thanked him for his contribution to the platform's development and emphasized that current processes continue to run normally, with the core team “remaining focused on its goals.”
Blum is a Telegram Mini App that combines a crypto exchange with a gamified point-earning system. The application gained popularity thanks to the Drop Game, in which users earned Blum Points by tapping falling snowflakes on their smartphone screens.
Initially, the project promised an airdrop of tokens that would be converted from Blum Points. However, the launch timeline was postponed several times, and the exact token generation event (TGE) date has not yet been announced.
At the time of Smerkis’s arrest, the game had already ended (on May 14), and the community was expecting the TGE and airdrop to take place in the second quarter of 2025.
Binance Support and Growing User Concerns
Blum received early support from Binance Labs through its Most Valuable Builder acceleration program. This fact strengthened user trust and accelerated the project’s spread within the Telegram ecosystem. However, following the news of Smerkis’s arrest, part of the community expressed concern about the future of the airdrop and the project's legitimacy.
At this time, Blum has officially stated that Smerkis’s arrest is not connected to the current operations of the platform and that it continues to function normally. The project team is urging users to stay calm and await further updates.
Previously: Notcoin Founders Declare the Death of Tap-to-Earn Games in Telegram
This post is for informational purposes only and is not an ad or investment advice. Please do your own research making any decisions.