In a proceeding before U.S. District Judge Vitaliano, Anatoly Legkodymov agreed to a plea deal dissolving Bitzlato and releasing any claim over approximately $23 million in seized assets of the exchange.
Binance remains a key conduit for Russian entities looking to convert rubles into digital assets that can then be exchanged for mainstream fiat currencies, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Data compiled by the Global Ledger team shows five exchanges have similar exposure to Hydra and continue to process transactions in the darknet even after its closure.
Digital asset firms often blame the "shifting" regulatory landscape for their failures, but in truth, laws haven't changed, and regulators are finally catching on to how technology works.
Bitzlato was seized by Europol earlier this year amid a U.S. crackdown for facilitating money laundering, but it has now reopened its withdrawals for its users.
Europol worked with the U.S., Spain, Portugal, and others to crack down on Bitzlato even as Reuters revealed that Binance processed over $346 million for the exchange.
Signature’s decision to pull back from the digital asset space chaos won’t stop Binance from finding another bedfellow—the question is which disreputable company is next up to the plate.
The DoJ’s complaint against Anatoly Legkodymov, a senior executive and major shareholder of Bitzlato, notes that it was founded in 2016 and has processed nearly $4.6B in transactions since May 2018.
