Bitcoin Daily: Turkish Crypto Exchange Vebitcoin Shuts Down, Four Arrested; Gemini Now Accepts Google Pay, Apple Pay For Crypto Purchases

Four people linked to Turkish crypto exchange Vebitcoin have been arrested and accused of fraud, according to a report from BBC. Officials launched an investigation and blocked the accounts of the platform.

The company had only hours earlier announced its intent to cease operations, citing financial strains, the report stated.

More people are starting to use cryptocurrencies in Turkey as a way to help protect their savings from a sharp decline in the worth of the local currency, the lira, according to the report. However, on Friday (April 23), Vebitcoin said it had stopped all activity to help fulfill regulations and claims.

Another currency exchange, Thodex, is also being looked into as the country has a warrant out for its founder, Faruk Fatih Ozer, who reportedly fled to Albania with an alleged $2 billion he took from investors, the report stated.

In other news, Gemini users are now able to buy cryptocurrency through Apple Pay and Google Pay, a company blog post stated.

Interested users can connect their debit cards to either of the app stores and open the Gemini app, the post stated. They can tap a crypto to purchase, then tap the “Buy” button and select whether to purchase once or schedule recurring buys.

After that, users can select the amount of crypto they want to buy, and then select whether to pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay, according to the post.

Lastly, Australia-based Webjet, a travel booking site, is investing $4.1 million into LockTrip with the intention to integrate the travel site and its LOC blockchain into Webjet, Cointelegraph reported.

Webjet is also looking at migrating its own enterprise blockchain project, the Rezchain booking verification system, onto LockTrip’s decentralized proof-of-stake Hydra Chain, according to the report. That would allow it to go further toward LockTrip’s ultimate goal, which is to tokenize the hotel and broader travel industry supplier marketplace.

That would also have the effect of supercharging the Hydra transactional economy and making it one of the more adopted networks worldwide.