German law enforcement has seized tens of millions of dollars in digital assets from eXch, a controversial crypto exchange facing allegations that it laundered crypto stolen in the record-setting Bybit exploit earlier this year.
On April 30th, Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Frankfurt’s Public Prosecutor’s Office seized eXch’s German server infrastructure, per a new press release.
The seizure included eight terabytes of data and €34 million ($38.26 million) worth of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Dash (DASH).
Last month, eXch took to the BitcoinTalk forum to announce it was shutting down on May 1st, claiming that “friends” in the state intelligence sector confirmed the exchange is the target of an “active transatlantic operation.”
The DKA says it anticipated eXch’s announcement and secured “numerous pieces of evidence and leads” to conduct the seizure by the end of April.
In February, hackers looted nearly $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum and Lido Staked Ether (stETH) from Bybit in the largest crypto theft ever and possibly the biggest heist in world history.
The blockchain research firm Elliptic, pseudonymous on-chain investigator ZachXBT and other researchers pinned the exploit on the Lazarus Group, a prolific North Korean cybercriminal outfit known for numerous high-profile hacks on major crypto platforms.
Elliptic also said that Lazarus used eXch as part of its process to launder the stolen crypto. The exchange denied the money-laundering allegations, though it did cop to processing an “insignificant” portion of the stolen Bybit funds.
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