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The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed that North Korea’s Lazarus Group was behind the $1.5 billion Bybit hack and is urging the crypto industry to block transactions linked to the stolen funds. The agency is calling on exchanges, node operators, and private sector players to prevent further laundering, as the hackers have already moved over 135,000 ETH. It flagged 51 Ethereum addresses tied to the attack, the largest crypto heist ever. ”Actors are proceeding rapidly and have converted some of the stolen assets to Bitcoin and other virtual assets dispersed across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains,” the FBI said. It added that the stolen funds will “be further laundered” before eventually being converted to fiat currency. About 363,900 ETH has remained unmoved. At ETH’s current price of $2,351.38 as of 7:07 a.m. EST, the assets are worth more than $855.6 million. Most of the assets that were stolen from the centraliz...

In the aftermath of Bybit’s $1.4 billion loss — the world’s largest crypto exchange hack — many once-celebrated services are struggling to control the laundering of criminal proceeds. Memecoin generator Pump.fun, permissionless token exchange ThorChain, and many others are trying to comply with Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules. Bybit, which once claimed to be the world’s second most popular crypto exchange by trading volume, suffered a $1.4 billion hack on February 21. Its executives signed a malicious transaction that allowed hackers to sweep ether (ETH) from its multi-signature wallets.  As panic set in, customers rushed to withdraw over $4 billion in deposits. Nevertheless, Bybit was able to secure some loans, and as of approximately 12 hours ago, claimed to have replenished liquidity to back customer deposits on a 1:1 basis . Over the past three days, hackers have swapped and liquidated some of the pr...

1. Supreme Court and Prosecutor General Include “Virtual Assets” Transactions as a Form of Money Laundering link link link On August 19, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate held a joint press conference to issue an interpretation on the application of law in handling criminal cases involving money laundering. The interpretation clarifies that using “virtual assets” for transactions or financial asset exchanges to transfer or convert criminal proceeds and their profits can be recognized as “concealing or disguising the origin and nature of criminal proceeds” under Article 191, Paragraph 1, Item 5 of the Criminal Law. Attorney Shao Shiwei explained that the inclusion of virtual asset transactions as a method of money laundering means that if one receives illicit funds through the sale or purchase of virtual currency, the nature of those funds will determine the crime. If the funds come from the seven predicate crimes specified in the money laundering laws,...

Russian co -founder of crypto exchange Bitzlato, Anatoly Legkodymov, pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. According to a press release published by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Dec. 6, 2023 Legkodymov pleaded guilty to operating a money transmitting business that “transported and transmitted” over $700 million in illicit funds. The DoJ claims Bitzlato was a primary provider for dark market purchasers and sellers, as well as a “safe haven for ransomware criminals.” Under the plea agreement, Legkodymov will dissolve Bitzlato and will release any claim over $23 million in seized assets of the crypto exchange . “Legkodymov’s guilty plea today confirms that he was well aware that Bitzlato, his cryptocurrency exchange, was being used like an open turnstile by criminals eager to take advantage of his lax controls over illicit money transactions.” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace You might also like: Bitzlato management a...