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- 1 Crypto exchanges based in Ukraine shut down by the government while the U.S. allegedly supported this decision.
- 2 There were a total of 9 crypto exchanges in the country shut down by the Cyber Police of Ukraine.
- 3 These 9 crypto exchanges were a part of illegal transactions and money laundering activities.
There are nearly 500 crypto exchanges worldwide, and respective countries are responsible for their operations. Crypto exchanges must follow structured rules to do hassle-free operations in their countries.
Ukraine’s Crypto Exchange ‘Shut-down Operation’
Recently, the National Police of Ukraine announced that the Cyber Police unit and the Main Investigative Department of the country that works with the Prosecutor General’s Office had seized 9 crypto exchanges. Moreover, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also was involved in this crucial step in Ukraine. While the Ukrainian authorities have described this as a “multilevel international operation.”
Along with the FBI, the National Police of Ukraine took over the control of 9 crypto exchange domains on suspicion as they enabled criminal activity, like money laundering. All these crypto exchanges were the suspect of laundering criminal proceedings. Also, these exchanges were processing misused money gained from ransomware attacks and different fraud schemes.
On May 2nd, the National Police Ukraine (NPU) mentioned on its website that the FBI had liquidated a network of services for exchanging cryptocurrency criminally. As NPU states on its official site, the network services allowed cybercriminals to legalize assets obtained as “ransoms” from attacks by encryption viruses. But, during an international police operation, the network was destroyed.
Notably, the web resources offered users anonymous exchange of cryptocurrencies. However, the services provided by crypto exchanges facilitate the legalization and laundering of money obtained illegally. The attackers channelled assets obtained through exchanges due to malware attacks and online fraud.
As a result of the operation, law enforcement officers have blocked the network’s infrastructure. While the location of the infrastructure was located on the servers of the U.S., Europe, and Ukraine, as NPU added. Now, the police are investigating who was involved in this criminal activity.
The 9 crypto exchanges, as NPU mentioned, are 24xbtc(dot)com, 100btc(dot)pro, price change (dot)com, 101crypta(dot)com, uxbtc(dot)com, trust-exchange(dot)org, bitcoin24(dot)exchange, paybtc(dot)pro and owl(dot)gold. Meanwhile, the visitors of these exchanges will now see a “confiscation banner.”
Furthermore, a recent Yahoo News article states about the “Robin Hood” hack as the hacker steals rich Russian crypto funds and then gives it to poor Ukraine. According to crypto experts, “the hacker has transferred the stolen Bitcoins (BTCs) to the addresses of Ukrainian volunteers.”
It must be noted that the first-ever hacks happened a few weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The government of Ukraine has used cryptocurrency since the beginning of the war and raised tens of millions of dollars for its military and charitable purposes.
With a background in journalism, Ritika Sharma has worked with many reputed media firms focusing on general news such as politics and crime. She joined The Coin Republic as a reporter for crypto, and found a great passion for cryptocurrency, Web3, NFTs and other digital assets. She spends a lot of time researching and delving deeper into these concepts around the clock, and is a strong advocate for women in STEM.
