- German police have taken $ 38M to crypto from the exch linked at Bybit Hack.
- Exch allegedly laundered part of $ 1.4B stolen from Bybit.
German law enforcement confiscated € 34 million ($ 38 million) in cryptocurrency from the exch, a swapping-swapping platform tied to the $ 1.4 billion bybit hack. Authorities announced The seizure on May 9, called it the third largest crypto confiscation in Germany history.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Frankfurt's prosecutor's office led the joint operation. They also took over eight terabytes of data from the German servers of the exch. This action will effectively close the local platform operations.
The authorities link the exch to the laundering of a large portion of the stolen bybit funds. The hack, which took place on February 21, 2025, saw $ 1.46 billion in ETH stolen. Investigators said the North Korean Lazarus team used the launder exch more than 5,000 ET.
How the exch became a hub for crypto crime
Launched in 2014, the exch operates without anti-money laundering (AML) steps. This allowed users to change crypto throughout the blockchains without identity checks. It attracts criminals who seek to obtain funds of funds using token hopping, bridges, and many purses.
According to BKA, the exch was processed around $ 1.9 billion in crypto transactions. Most of these are believed to be derived from criminal activities, including phishing scams and major exchange hacks. Assets taken along with Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Dash (Dash).
Crypto analyst Zachxbt Confirmed Exch role in laundering funds from many high -profile incidents. This includes $ 243 million stealing Genesis Creditor, Multisig wallet exploits, and fixedfloat-related hacks. ZachXBT said the platform ignored freeze and warning orders.
Despite its denial, the exch was actively used after its reported shutdown. In mid -April, it claimed to stop operations on May 1. But blockchain analytics from TRM labs revealed API backend that remained live. This allowed the continued launch activity.
The TRM is also tied to the exch at more than $ 300,000 in funds linked to child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The design of the platform is almost impossible to monitor criminal flows. It has raised major concerns in global implementation agencies.
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