Blockchain analyst ZachXBT says crypto bridge Garden Finance may be helping move stolen funds.
- Over 80% of Garden Finance’s recent fees may come from illegal money transfers.
- Funds are linked to the North Korean Lazarus Group and a hack of Bybit exchange.
- Garden Finance denies the claims, calling them false and misleading.
Analyst Says Garden Helped Launder Stolen Money
On June 21, blockchain investigator ZachXBT accused Garden Finance of being used to move stolen crypto. He pointed to transactions linked to the Lazarus Group, a known hacking group based in North Korea. ZachXBT said that more than 80% of Garden’s recent fees came from these illegal transactions.
These funds are believed to be part of the recent Bybit exchange hack. The stolen assets were moved through Garden Finance, which acts as a bridge for Bitcoin transfers. ZachXBT made these claims after Jaz Gulati, a co-founder of Garden, shared the platform’s income numbers online.
Garden Finance Responds to the Claims
Jaz Gulati dismissed the accusations as false. He said that the majority of fees were earned before the Bybit hack even happened. Gulati claimed the project runs independently and without control from any one person or team. He also said the accusations hurt the progress and transparency of their work.
Garden Finance promotes itself as a decentralized tool that allows Bitcoin to move quickly between different blockchains. It reports having collected over 40 BTC in fees and processed more than $1.5 billion in volume. But ZachXBT questioned the platform’s claims of decentralization after watching one wallet repeatedly add liquidity from Coinbase.
Background and Other Related News
The accusations against Garden Finance come amid growing concerns about the use of crypto projects for money laundering. Earlier this week, Iurii Gugnin, the founder of Evita Pay, was arrested in New York. He is accused of helping Russian clients bypass sanctions using stablecoins. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Authorities around the world are increasing efforts to track and stop illegal crypto activities. In Hong Kong, officials are developing a new tool to trace money movements across different digital assets.
Source: cointelegraph.com
