Security so lax, Binance lets its own hackers launder money

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How easy is it to launder money on Binance? Pretty easy, as it turns out, as the same hackers who stole from the exchange have now used it to sell off some of their ill-gotten digital currency.

According to a recent report from CoinDesk, analytical firm Coinfirm have been tracking the 7,000 SegWitCoin (BTC) worth of crypto originally stolen from Binance on May 7. While the funds sat in the hacker’s wallet for some time after their initial attack, it eventually began moving from wallet to wallet, but with none of it really being sold off for fiat. That is, until just recently.

“Analysis of one of the mainchains used by the hacker in layering stolen funds shows that they were able to liquidate at least 1.8087 BTC (21,000.00 USD) on the following exchanges,” said co-founder of Coinfirm Grant Blaisdell. The exchanges used were:

Bitfinex: 0,7934 BTC

Binance: 0,4294 BTC

Bitmex: 0,0022 BTC

KuCoin: 0,0713 BTC

Kuna: 0,2482 BTC

Bitmarket: 0,2560 BTC

Crypterra: 0,0072 BTC

Bitcoin.de: 0,0007 BTC

WazirX: 0,0003 BTC

Sticking out right near the top of that list is Binance itself. While the report doesn’t indicate when the hackers were able to sell off their BTC on each exchange, it’s somewhat telling that they were able to return to the scene of the crime to sell off somewhere in the region of $5,000 worth of BTC for fiat.

This further proves that not only is Binance’s lack of anti-money laundering (AML) checks alarming for regulators, but it’s also a disservice to the business itself, as it can’t even protect itself against the criminal elements amongst its customers. Binance is proving that it’s a great exchange if you’re plan is to cheat and steal, and they’ll even help you out the door with your stolen funds.

Thankfully, the days of criminal cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance appear to be coming to an end. U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin noted on July 15 that money service businesses, of which Binance is definitely one, must submit to AML regulations around the world and end their practices of helping criminals conduct business.