The U.S. Financial Crime Enforcement Agency (FinCEN) has announced that the Binance cryptocurrency exchange is one of the top three counterparties of the Bitzlato cryptocurrency platform for bitcoin transactions.
The document states that from May 2018 to September 2022, Binance was a partner of the platform, comparable in volume to the darknet site Hydra.
FinCEN says nothing about sending bitcoins from Binance to Bitzlato, but only about receiving. Among the largest senders are just Hydra, as well as The Finiko and the Finnish crypto exchange LocalBitcoins. The US agency said that approximately two-thirds of Bitzlato’s top receiving and sending counterparties are associated with darknet markets or fraud.
From 2019 to 2021, about $450 million passed through Bitzlato. According to law enforcement officers, about $206 million went to the darknet market, $224 million went to operations related to fraud, and $9 million to extortion.
According to a Binance spokesperson, the crypto exchange is cooperating with law enforcement on the Bitzlato case and is supporting the investigation.
Yesterday, the Bitzlato team published a message about the platform being hacked, stating that the attackers managed to withdraw a small amount of assets. However, the next day it became known that the US Department of Justice had arrested Anatoly Legkodymov, co-founder of the platform.
Source: Bits
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