Crypto Exchange to Shut Down Following Allegations Linked to Bybit Hack
A crypto trading platform is set to go offline next month following serious accusations linking it to illicit fund movements tied to a major crypto breach.
On May 1, eXch will officially discontinue its operations after a contentious internal vote among its leadership, the company revealed in a public update.
The decision comes in the wake of claims that eXch played a role in laundering millions in stolen crypto—allegedly connected to North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group. Investigators suspect the platform processed part of the funds siphoned from a $1.4 billion exploit targeting Bybit earlier this year. Roughly $35 million is believed to have been funneled through eXch’s systems.
The company described being the focus of an active international crackdown, suggesting that coordinated efforts across borders were working to dismantle its infrastructure and possibly initiate legal action. Despite managing to stay online through previous disruption attempts, the exchange said the mounting pressure had reached an unsustainable level.
eXch criticized the situation in a strongly worded statement, implying it had become a surveillance target without due cause. The platform argued that its goals were misunderstood and that it had no interest in operating under what it described as “hostile conditions.”
Earlier this year, blockchain analysts had flagged transactions allegedly linking eXch to the Lazarus Group’s laundering operation. While the exchange initially dismissed those claims, it later acknowledged that a small portion of funds related to the Bybit breach had indeed passed through its system. It maintained, however, that this amount was negligible and unintentional.
As the platform prepares to go dark, its leadership defended its commitment to user privacy, taking aim at other exchanges they say have compromised customer rights under the banner of regulatory compliance. eXch framed its closure not as a sign of guilt, but as a refusal to operate under what it perceives as increasing surveillance and mischaracterization.
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coindoo and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
