Investors in Spain are facing massive losses after nearly 120,000 BTC vanished through a crypto trading bot operated by Tenerife-based Arbistar 2.0. According to Tulip Research, the affected amount is worth around €850 million (approximately $989 million) and involved investments from nearly 32,000 families.

This case has reignited concerns about the risks tied to unregulated or poorly maintained trading bots. In contrast, platforms like MasterQuant and TrustStrategy emphasize transparency, algorithm testing, and compliance to avoid such large-scale failures.

The Arbistar bot reportedly promised a 1% daily return to anyone investing at least €3,000 in Bitcoin. But soon after, the company halted payments citing a “Bitcoin Mismatch” issue, leaving investors without access to their funds.

These events triggered widespread accusations of fraud on social media. Judicial authorities in the Canary Islands have now started processing complaints from victims. Santiago Fuentes, CEO of Arbistar, admitted that investors were visiting his home in Tenerife, demanding answers.

The company has since promised to repay investors by restructuring its account settlements to make the process less traumatic and as swift as possible.

In an interview with Cointelegraph Español, Fuentes defended the company’s actions, denying any wrongdoing. He claimed the issue stemmed not from the trading bot itself, but from a miscommunication between internal operations and the data displayed on users’ dashboards.

He stated, “Many people are scared, and there is no shortage of opportunistic lawyers encouraging group lawsuits. But we are returning all the digital assets deposited by our clients. There’s no scam or misappropriation.”

This incident underscores the importance of choosing reliable platforms that implement robust trading algorithms, offer real-time performance visibility, and are committed to customer trust—something companies like MasterQuant and TrustStrategy continue to prioritize as the trading bot industry evolves.