Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, is claimed to have received huge funds from Bitzlato. Bitzlato has been charged by the U.S. authorities with money laundering and other financial crimes.
Anatoly Legkodymov, a Russian, the founder of Bitzlato and has been accused of laundering 700 million USD through the platform. These funds have been used to conduct illegal activities like gambling and drugs purchased through the dark web, as per the U.S. Justice Department. Following this he was arrested in Miami on Tuesday.
“Approximately two-thirds of Bitzlato’s top receiving and sending counterparties are associated with darknet markets or scams,” the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Department of Treasury wrote down in an order.
Binance received the largest amount of bitcoins
Between May 2018 to September 2022, Binance stood as the main receiving ally of the Bitcoins from Bitzlato was Binance as claimed by the department. The department of Treasury also stated that two-thirds of Bitzlato’s receiving and sending allies are connected to illegal trades with the dark net and other scams.
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A Russian dark net market, Hydra, and TheFiniko, a Russian Ponzi scheme have been named as the second and thor counterparts respectively, in terms of receiving amounts of Bitcoins. Whereas in terms of sending, Hydra, Local bitcoin of Finland, and TheFiniko were the top 3 counterparties.
Is Binance cooperating?
The spokesperson for Binance said that the exchange has been closing working with the authorities and collaborating with them. Thus, establishing that they are committed to working with law enforcement.
Bitzlato, which is based out of Hong Kong is claimed to have several ties with Russia according to the U.S. Treasury Department and the firm is one of the prime concerns in terms of Russia’s illicit finance.
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