{"id":22801,"date":"2025-04-18T23:01:41","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T23:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=22801"},"modified":"2025-04-18T23:01:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T23:01:41","slug":"crypto-mixer-exch-calls-it-quits-under-fire-over-bybit-hack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=22801","title":{"rendered":"Crypto Mixer eXch Calls It Quits: Under Fire Over Bybit Hack"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cryptocurrency exchange eXch will close down<\/a> on May 1 after being accused of facilitating money laundering of funds stolen in the record-breaking Bybit hack. The firm made the announcement yesterday in a statement that cited pressure from law enforcement as the primary reason for closure.<\/p>\n

North Korean Hackers Tied To Stolen Funds<\/strong><\/h2>\n

eXch was allegedly employed by North Korea\u2019s Lazarus Group to wash around $35 million, part of a significantly larger $1.4 billion heist in February from rival exchange Bybit. The attack is one of the largest ever on the cryptocurrency space.<\/p>\n

After initially claiming not to have participated, eXch later acknowledged that it had facilitated some funds from the hack. The exchange minimized this operation, referring to it as \u201can insignificant portion of funds\u201d but refusing to state precisely how much money passed through their service.<\/p>\n

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Cryptocurrency exchange eXch announced it will cease operations on May 1 following allegations linking it to North Korea\u2019s Lazarus Group, accused of laundering approximately $35 million connected to the $1.4 billion Bybit hack. The exchange acknowledged handling a small portion\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) April 18, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Management Team Votes To \u2018Cease And Retreat\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Most of the leadership of eXch decided to shut operations instead of ongoing struggles with what they termed as \u201can active transatlantic operation\u201d geared towards them. Law enforcement appears to be trying to develop evidence to lead criminal charges against the exchange.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not see any utility to work in a hostile environment where we are targeted by SIGINT merely because some individuals misunderstand our objectives,\u201d eXch said in their release. SIGINT is a term used to describe \u201csignals intelligence\u201d, implying government agencies are intercepting their communications.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The exchange attempted to present their shutdown as a stance on privacy. They asserted that other cryptocurrency platforms \u201cabuse customers with nonsensical policies\u201d in rolling out anti-money laundering measures. This position seems to put eXch forward as a victim instead of addressing the charges directly.<\/p>\n

Bybit Recovers From Record-Breaking Hack<\/strong><\/p>\n

The February attack on Bybit caused immediate panic, with users withdrawing more than $5 billion from the platform. CEO Ben Zhou initially reassured customers on February 22 that the exchange could \u201ccover the loss\u201d if the stolen money wasn\u2019t recovered.<\/p>\n

After the hack, Bybit shut down its non-fungible token market and suspended certain Web3 services. Despite all this, the exchange has recovered very well. By April 10, Bybit<\/a> had regained its pre-hack market share of around 8%.<\/p>\n

Bybit provided more than $2 million in incentives for bounty hunters who assisted in tracking the stolen money. This move seems to have paid off. According to reports, officials have been able to freeze about 85% of the stolen $1.4 billion by following transactions to other exchanges.<\/p>\n

The eXch shutdown illustrates repeated difficulties in the regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges. In providing users with privacy and convenience, these websites occasionally serve as conduits for transferring stolen funds, causing a conflict between advocates of privacy and those combating financial crime.<\/p>\n

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cryptocurrency exchange eXch will close down on May 1 after being accused of facilitating money laundering of funds stolen in the record-breaking Bybit hack. The firm made the announcement yesterday in a statement that cited pressure from law enforcement as the primary reason for closure. North Korean Hackers Tied To Stolen Funds eXch was allegedly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-22801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}