The US administration has accused Hong Kong-registered crypto exchange Bitzlato of money laundering. In the statement made by the US Department of Justice, it was stated that Bitzlato’s top manager of Russian nationality, Anatoly Legkodymov, was detained in Miami.
Pointing out that Bitzlato is an important financial resource for Hydra, which is known as the world’s largest and longest-running “darknet market”, used for narcotics, stolen financial information, fake identity documents and money laundering services, US and German officials said in the statement. It was noted that Hydra users had traded more than $700 million in cryptocurrencies with Bitzlato, either directly or through intermediaries, until it was shut down in April 2022.
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In the statement, it was reported that Bitzlato also earned more than $ 15 million in revenue from ransomware attacks. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Bitzlato is a “primary money laundering concern…” in connection with Russian illegal financing.
