The Reuters news agency published an investigation into the activities of the world’s largest crypto exchange over the past five years.
From 2017 to 2021, at least $2.35 billion in illicit funds were laundered through Binance, according to the investigative report. To track these funds, the agency analyzed court records, contacted law enforcement, and also worked with blockchain analysis companies such as Chainalysis and Crystal Blockchain.
The author of the article links several significant events: the hacking of the Slovak crypto exchange Eterbase, operations on the marketplace on the Hydra darknet, and the actions of the North Korean hacker group Lazarus. All of them, according to the author, used Binance to facilitate various transactions with cryptocurrencies.
According to the report, in September 2020, attackers from Lazarus created anonymous accounts on a crypto exchange and used them to launder $5.4 million stolen from the Slovak Eterbase. Binance, according to the co-founder of Eterbase, had no idea who was transferring the money. At the same time, emails shared with Reuters show that the crypto exchange refused to share information or data about accounts without a request from law enforcement officers. Eterbase eventually closed and filed for bankruptcy.
Regarding the famous illicit goods site Hydra, the article states that the site used Binance to process drug payments totaling $780 million. article is inaccurate and grossly exaggerated. According to Reuters, Binance was the preferred transaction processing platform on Hydra in 2018 due to the minimum user identification requirements.
According to Hillman, the report presented to Reuters is misinformed and uses outdated information from 2019, as well as unverified personal testimonies.
Earlier, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported that among the Mexican and Colombian drug cartels, cryptocurrencies are becoming a popular means of payment for money laundering and drug trafficking.
Source: Bits
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