Following the $1.4 billion Bybit breach, cryptocurrency exchange eXch refuted charges of money laundering for North Korea’s Lazarus group.
Summary
• Cryptocurrency exchange eXch denies charges of money laundering for North Korea’s Lazarus group following the $1.4 billion Bybit breach.
• The Lazarus Group, a North Korean-linked cybercrime group, is under scrutiny due to links between the wallets used in the Bybit hack and fraudulent actions on Solana’s Pump.fun platform.
• eXch denied any role in facilitating unlawful transactions for Lazarus/DPRK and stated that all monies on the exchange were secure.
The Lazarus Group, a North Korean-linked cybercrime group, is under greater attention following suspicions of involvement in both the historic $1.4 billion Bybit breach and a series of meme coin frauds on the Solana blockchain. Onchain investigators and blockchain security organizations discovered links between the wallets used in the Bybit hack and fraudulent actions on Solana’s Pump.fun platform.
Crypto Exchange eXch Denies Laundering Funds for North Korea’s Lazarus Group After $1.4 Billion Bybit Hack
Following the record $1.4 billion Bybit breach on February 21, cryptocurrency exchange eXch has categorically dismissed suspicions of money laundering for North Korea’s notorious Lazarus group. On February 23, the exchange made a message on the Bitcointalk website, claiming that it had no role in facilitating unlawful transactions for a cybercriminal ring associated with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In their statement, the eXch team stated, “We are not laundering money for Lazarus/DPRK,” adding that all funds kept on the exchange were secure and that the Bybit attack had no effect on its operations. The exchange also chastised people who accused it of illegal activities, dismissing such allegations as unwarranted fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD).
While maintaining its innocence, eXch admitted that a minor portion of the stolen monies flowed via its network. The exchange stated that it handled an “insignificant fraction of cash” from the Bybit hack, which used the address 0xf1da173228fcf015f43f3ea15abbb51f0d8f1123. eXch emphasized that this was a rare incidence and that any fees generated from these transactions would be given to the public benefit.
“There are no other addresses on the Ethereum blockchain, except deposit addresses that interact with this address, that are affiliated with our exchange,” eXch stated in its statement, seeking to dissociate itself from the larger laundering charges.
The eXch retort comes after increasing scrutiny from on-chain researchers and security organizations, who accuse the platform of playing a larger role in laundering assets stolen from Bybit.
On February 22, blockchain investigator ZachXBT posted to his Telegram investigations group, claiming that eXch laundered $35 million in stolen assets. He further stated that the exchange had erroneously transmitted 34 Ether (ETH) valued around $96,000 to a hot wallet belonging to another exchange. SlowMist, a blockchain security firm, confirmed his findings, claiming that eXch obtained a “large sum of ETH” as a result of the Bybit attack and changed part of it into other cryptocurrencies.
Adding to the charges, Nick Bax, a member of the white-hat hacking organization Security Alliance, claimed that eXch executed at least $30 million in transactions for the DPRK-linked Lazarus organization in one day.
When attackers acquired access to Bybit’s Ether multisig cold wallet, the company lost over $1.4 billion in what is now considered the greatest crypto breach in history. Despite this tragic loss, the exchange has promised users that withdrawals would continue. However, according to DeFiLlama statistics, Bybit’s total assets, including the stolen funds, have decreased by more than $5.3 billion.
Bybit is actively working with law enforcement and other exchanges to freeze and recover stolen assets. As of February 23, it has successfully frozen more than $42 million in stolen assets as a result of these actions.
Despite continuous investigations and charges, eXch has not completely cooperated with Bybit’s efforts to prevent additional capital withdrawals. In a Bitcointalk post, eXch revealed an email discussion with Bybit’s risk team, in which the latter sought to aid in freezing the stolen funds. However, eXch declined to cooperate, claiming complaints about previous cases in which Bybit reportedly blocked deposits made by its users without offering any reasons.
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