​HitBTC suspected of laundering 10 000 BTC stolen from clients of the WEX exchange

What’s new? On November 23, 10 000 BTC were transferred from the wallet of the closed Russian crypto exchange WEX (formerly BTC-e). This was reported by InDeFi CEO Sergey Mendeleev on his Telegram channel. He soon shared the address to which the bitcoins stolen from the WEX clients were transferred. It turned out that the wallet belongs to the HitBTC crypto exchange. The platform received a transfer of 65 BTC (~$1 million). According to a check made with GetBlock blockchain explorer, the bitcoins received were moved to another address and are no longer identified as “dirty” coins.

Mendeleev’s Telegram channel

Suspicions about HitBTC. In 2019, Bitcoin Insider linked the HitBTC exchange to Andrey Savchenko of Russia. The publication called HitBTC “the most fraudulent exchange after the late Mt. Gox” and suspected it of initial public offering (ICO) fraud. The platform actively offers its listing service to projects by approaching them personally. Bitcoin Insider noted that this is very strange, as other leading crypto exchanges never do this. The listing price on HitBTC may vary, but it is around 40 BTC (~$667 600).

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact, that a large number of users are experiencing withdrawal problems, which may be due to the lack of money and/or fraud that HitBTC is planning. Journalists assumed that the exchange is trying to raise as much money as possible to save itself from bankruptcy.

It is noted that instead of being listed on HitBTC, projects receive “integration.” In addition, there are no agreements or formal contracts between them and the exchange.

Bitcoin Insider noted that this is done solely to protect the legitimate interests of the exchange and to allow it to stop the “integration” at any time without any legal consequences.

To get listed on HitBTC, half of the team must send a photo of them holding their IDs in front of a computer screen with the email from the exchange on it. HitBTC itself, however, does not provide registration information from the registry of legal entities, nor does it report the identity of the director.

The crypto exchange’s website claims that it is registered in Hong Kong and has an office in Chile. However, the invoices show other details of the company, namely Seychelles.

According to Digiconomist, neither the location of the headquarters nor the identity of its owners can be confirmed. The review site points to another owner of the exchange, a Danish company called Ullus Corporations K/S, which was actually liquidated in February 2015.

Bitcoin Insider admitted that Ullus Corporation is the same company that later opened the German Fidor Bank, and its key person is Andrey Savchenko. Savchenko and HitBTC are also linked to another cryptocurrency exchange, KuCoin. The publication also speculated that HitBTC people were behind ICO Bench, but there is no credible evidence at this time.

For how the bitcoin seizure from the hacker who hacked the Silk Road dark web marketplace took place, read GetBlock Magazine’s article.