Russian authorities have arrested Vladimir Smerkis, co-founder of Telegram-based crypto project Blum, on suspicion of large-scale fraud, according to local media outlet TASS. The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow approved the request to keep Smerkis in custody while investigations proceed.
The arrest reportedly relates to Smerkis’s past ventures—The Token Fund and Tokenbox—which he co-founded in 2017. These crypto investment platforms allegedly caused investor losses totaling around $15 million, though no formal charges have been announced yet.
Smerkis also previously served as the general manager for Binance’s operations in Russia and the broader CIS region.
Blum Severs Ties, Confirms Smerkis Resignation
In response to the arrest, Blum stated on its official X account on May 18. The team clarified that Smerkis had stepped down from his role as chief marketing officer and no longer holds any position within the company.
“Our team remains fully committed and focused on our goals. Day-to-day operations continue as usual,” Blum stated.
The company emphasized that Blum is not linked to Smerkis’s previous projects and sought to distance the platform from the ongoing legal case.
Blum is a “tap-to-earn” crypto game hosted within Telegram Mini Apps. Users collect Blum Points by tapping falling snowflakes in the project’s Drop Game. These points were expected to convert into BLUM tokens during an upcoming Token Generation Event (TGE), originally teased for Q3 2024 and later pushed to Q2 2025. The delay in the airdrop and the lack of clarity on the token launch have already led to frustration among Blum’s user base.
Scrutiny Mounts on Tap-to-Earn Ecosystem
However, Blum crypto co-founder’s arrest has cast doubt over the project’s token airdrop plans. Several community members expressed frustration over the lack of clarity and communication.
One user on X wrote:
“Blum owes its users a clarification on the planned airdrop.”
Another crypto influencer, RK Gupta, criticized the silence:
“No airdrop. No updates. Just silence. Was it all for nothing?”
Blum was among the projects following the tap-to-earn trend that Hamster Kombat popularized in 2024. That game’s massive airdrop, the largest in the industry to date, brought the model mainstream attention. As of May 2025, CoinGecko estimates the total market cap of tap-to-earn projects to be $511 million.
While the Blum team maintains that development is ongoing, the sudden departure of a high-profile co-founder under criminal investigation could hamper community trust and investor confidence, especially with the long-anticipated airdrop still unfulfilled.
