The eXch cryptocurrency trading platform has announced that it will cease operations on May 1 due to allegations that the North Korean Lazarus group used this service to launder money stolen from the Bybit exchange.
The project team reported that they had recently learned that the service had become the target of some kind of active "transatlantic operation" to shut down its work and hold the team accountable for "money laundering and terrorism."
eXch is an online exchange that does not verify the identity of customers. The project positions itself as a platform for confidential transactions.
The project reported that there had already been several attempts to disable the service infrastructure as part of this operation, but they were able to continue working. But after a series of meetings, the majority of the team members voted to terminate eXch.
"We see no point in working in a hostile environment where we are the target of SIGINT (electronic intelligence) simply because some people misunderstand our goals," eXch said in a statement.
Several blockchain analysts previously claimed that Lazarus Group used eXch to launder part of the cryptocurrencies stolen from the Bybit crypto exchange over $1 billion at the end of February. According to experts, at least $30 million of these assets have already passed through eXch.
The project team stated that it had never set itself the goal of facilitating illegal activities such as money laundering or terrorism. However, eXch stressed that they have always sought to ensure the confidentiality of payments for their customers and remain committed to this principle.
eXch criticized projects that block user funds on the platform, calling it a "false representation" of the fight against money laundering. Exchangers that verify their customers' deposits using third-party APIs and refer to "meaningless AML/KYC conditions" are far from preventing money laundering and terrorism, the developers wrote.
They stated that if the projects are serious about combating money laundering, they should "stop hiding" behind offshore organizations and start conducting strict verification of each individual client.
"Privacy is not a crime," the eXch concluded.
The project also announced the creation of a 50 BTC fund to support any open source projects aimed at increasing the availability of privacy solutions.
At the end of February, Bybit "declared war" on Lazarus hackers and offered a reward to those who would help freeze the stolen funds. The platform promises to pay a "bounty" totaling $140 million.
Law enforcement agencies, Elliptic, Chainalysis and Arkham analytical systems joined the hacking investigation. According to the Lazarusbounty platform, only 3.84% ($53.5 million) of the stolen funds were frozen, another 6.8% (about $95 million) are trying to block, and more than 89% ($1.25 billion) could not be traced.
