TechFlow news, April 18 — According to Cointelegraph, cryptocurrency exchange eXch announced it will cease operations on May 1. This comes after reports that the exchange was used for money laundering involving part of the funds stolen in Bybit's $1.4 billion hack.
In an announcement on April 17, eXch stated that a majority of its management team voted to adopt a "stop and retreat" strategy in response to allegations that the North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group laundered approximately $35 million through the platform—funds originating from the $1.4 billion attack on Bybit.
The exchange said it has become a target of a "transatlantic joint law enforcement operation" aimed at shutting down its business and potentially bringing criminal charges. eXch stated in its announcement: "Although we have withstood multiple attempts to shut down our infrastructure and continued operations, we believe it is no longer meaningful to operate in a hostile environment where we are under signals intelligence surveillance simply because some have misinterpreted our mission." The exchange initially denied blockchain investigators' claims that it assisted the Lazarus Group in money laundering, but admitted to processing a "very small portion of funds" from the February hack.
