Binance Helps Ukraine Take Down Crypto Laundering Group
- The exchange started assisting the Ukrainian Cyber Police in early 2020, under its “Bulletproof Exchangers” project.
- The investigation was mainly conducted by the exchange’s internal risk intelligence unit, Binance Sentry, and analytics firm TRM Labs.
Illustration from Freepik
One of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, Binance, has once again helped a law enforcement agency in taking down cyber criminals, this time in Ukraine, the firm said in a blog post on 18 August.
According to the announcement, the exchange’s internal data security team worked together with Ukraine’s cyber police in busting a group of individuals involved in a $42 million ransomware and money laundering scheme. The criminal organization has been operating since 2018, laundering millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies, but with the help of Binance, the Ukrainian law enforcement agency was able to finally arrest them in June 2020.
The Chief of the Ukrainian Cyber Police, Oleksandr Hrynchak, said in a statement:
“Because the digital currency market has a large number of financial transactions with money obtained from hacker attacks on international companies, the spread of malicious software, theft of funds from the bank accounts of foreign companies and individuals – the Department of Cyberpolice with Binance and its methodological assistance, promotes more prompt detection of those involved in such offenses.”
With the exchange’s help, the Ukrainian Cyber Police force was able to arrest three suspects in June, and also confiscated around $200,000 in computer equipment, weapons, ammunition, cash and digital evidence. While the group mainly operated in Ukraine, it was involved in several cyber attacks on a global scale.
Binance started helping the law enforcement agency in early 2020 as part of its “Bulletproof Exchangers” project, which tracks down transactions between the exchange and high risk entities. The investigation was mainly carried out by Binance’s internal risk intelligence unit, Binance Sentry, which worked with blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs in detecting, and then identifying the criminal group.
While this appears to be the first successful collaboration under Binance’s “Bulletproof Exchangers” initiative, it is not the first time the exchange has helped a law enforcement agency. Back in September 2019, the exchange also aided the Cyber Crime Unit of the U.K. Metropolitan Police in investigating a criminal involved in the theft of £41.6 million.
- The popular crypto exchange has decided to sell its business in Russia to CommEX, a crypto exchange business that was officially launched on Tuesday.
- Binance noted that it will fully exit the Russian market, and have no ongoing revenue split or any option to buy back shares in the business.
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- The company said it will be suspending its crypto-backed debit card service in the Middle East on 25 August, and in Latin America by 21 September.
- Although no reason was given for the decision, the company noted that “less than 1% of users” in those regions will be affected by the change.
- A spokesperson said the change was due to the “changing market and user needs”, and that Binance will now be refocusing its resources on its main products and long-term goals.
- Launched in March 2022, Binance Connect helped crypto businesses connect with the traditional finance system, and supported 50 cryptocurrencies and networks such as Visa and Mastercard.