CoinGather users gather around, the DoJ wants you

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) is seeking traders who were registered users of the now defunct CoinGather digital currency exchange. The exchange was seized in 2018 after speculations that it had pulled an exit scam. Now, the DoJ is seeking to forfeit all the digital currency holdings it seized from the exchange.

The DoJ recently announced that it would be forfeiting all digital currencies it seized from wallets belonging to CoinGather. It then sent emails to users of the CoinGather exchange who had digital currencies in their wallets on November 21, 2017, requesting that they submit their details. It also created a webpage dedicated to providing information on the issue.

Users who wish to claim their digital currencies must provide details such as their name, date of birth, mailing address, email address they used to register on CoinGather and their username on the exchange.

In its warrant, the DoJ stated, “Please be advised that if you want to become a claimant in this action, you must file a claim within thirty five (35) days after the date this notice was sent to you, which is indicated on the enclosed certificate of service; and an answer to the Complaint for Forfeiture, or Rule 12 motion, within twenty-one (21) days after the filing of your claim.”

The DoJ further cautioned the CoinGather users that failure to file a claim may result in the issuance of “judgment by default against you and an order of forfeiture against the defendant property vesting title to the property in the United States of America.”

CoinGather went down in November 2017 with no notice to its users, causing instant panic. At the time of its disappearance, it had listed 92 digital currencies. According to CoinMarketCap, the exchange processed around $90,000 on average a day before it went down. Rumors of an exit scam were rife, with the Bitcointalk and Twitter accounts all becoming inactive after the site went down.

Five months later in March 2018, the FBI seized the CoinGather.com domain. The FBI claimed that it had found probable cause that the domain was used to facilitate crime as CoinGather was an unlicensed money transmitting business.

The DoJ obtained a warrant four months later to search the server, discovering that the exchange had 20,000 users. It also seized the digital currencies from the wallets, which it came to later reveal was worth millions of dollars.