{"id":12659,"date":"2022-11-24T10:53:37","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T14:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/?p=12659"},"modified":"2022-11-24T10:53:37","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T14:53:37","slug":"dump-incoming-rogue-btc-e-sends-165-million-in-bitcoin-to-personal-wallets-and-exchanges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/2022\/11\/24\/dump-incoming-rogue-btc-e-sends-165-million-in-bitcoin-to-personal-wallets-and-exchanges\/","title":{"rendered":"Dump Incoming? Rogue BTC-e Sends $165 Million In Bitcoin To Personal Wallets And Exchanges"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a year of near dormancy, Bitcoin funds of the rogue exchange BTC-e are on the move again. Chainalysis, an American blockchain analysis firm headquartered in New York City, is reporting<\/a> that 10,000 BTC, worth about $165 million, have been transferred.<\/p>\n

The destination of the transactions are personal wallets, exchange deposit addresses and other services. Remarkably, the transfer is the largest withdrawal since April 2018.<\/p>\n

BTC-e was a crypto exchange that was founded in July 2011 and shut down in 2017 as a result of a joint investigation by the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI. According to the allegations, BTC-e was instrumental in laundering money for ransomware attacks.<\/p>\n

As NewsBTC reported<\/a>, security researchers estimated that BTC-e was responsible for 95% of all ransomware payments and their conversion into fiat currencies.<\/p>\n

Russian citizen and co-founder of BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik, was also allegedly involved in the theft of 530,000 of the more than 800,000 Bitcoin stolen from Mt. Gox<\/a>. After serving two years in prison in France, Vinnik was extradited to the U.S. in August.<\/p>\n

As Chainalysis notes, BTC-e still held a significant amount of Bitcoin at the time of its shutdown in 2017. In April 2018, BTC-e moved more than 30,000 Bitcoin from its service wallet. About $50 million of that went to the now-sanctioned OTC counter Suex.<\/p>\n

BTC-e Fraudster About To Dump Their Bitcoin?<\/h2>\n

Since then, the fraudulent exchange\u2019s masterminds had been relatively quiet. Only in October 2021, BTC-e sent over 100 Bitcoin worth more than $6 million to personal wallets and eventually to several exchanges \u201cthat service Russia and other Eastern European countries,\u201d according to Chainalysis.<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s transaction appears to be the tip of the iceberg and a longer-planned move. The fraudsters of BTC-e began withdrawing cryptocurrencies as early as a month ago. On Oct. 26, both BTC-e and its successor exchange WEX sent small amounts of Bitcoin to Webmoney, a Russian electronic payment service.<\/p>\n

Then, on November 11, BTC-e conducted a test by indirectly transferring 100 Bitcoin to an exchange. After seemingly being successful, BTC-e pulled of yesterdays big move.<\/p>\n

BTC-e transaction as constructed by Chainalysis. Image: Chainalysis.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Chainalysis concluded that approximately 9,950 Bitcoin are remaining in personal wallets of the fraudsters, \u201cwhile the rest was moved through a series of intermediaries to four deposit addresses at two large exchanges. In the case of Exchange 1, depicted above, our analysis suggests a Russian exchange<\/a> may have served as an intermediary to launder this BTC-e money\u201d.<\/p>\n

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju confirmed that the BTC originate from the criminals linked to the 2014 Mt. Gox hack. \u201cThey sent 65 BTC to Hitbtc a few hours ago, so it\u2019s not a gov auction or anything,\u201d he said. Ju urged the exchange to suspend the account due to suspicious activity.<\/p>\n

7-year-old 10,000 $BTC<\/a> moved today.<\/p>\n

No surprise, it’s from criminals, like most of the old Bitcoins. It’s the BTC-e exchange wallet related to the 2014 Mt. Gox hack.<\/p>\n

They sent 65 BTC to @hitbtc<\/a> a few hours ago, so it’s not a gov auction or something.https:\/\/t.co\/6LnCxFAJfX<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/YdPrvJafxY<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Sp2higUqbq<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) November 24, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Thus, in the short term, the BTC-e fraudsters do not appear to be a threat, as they are once again only dumping smaller amounts of BTC. The Bitcoin price, meanwhile, is struggling with the crucial resistance at $16,000 USD.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin facing a crucial resistance at $16,600 in the 15-min-chart. Source: TradingView<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

After a year of near dormancy, Bitcoin funds of the rogue exchange BTC-e are on the move again. Chainalysis, an American blockchain analysis firm headquartered in New York City, is reporting<\/a> that 10,000 BTC, worth about $165 million, have been transferred.<\/p>\n

The destination of the transactions are personal wallets, exchange deposit addresses and other services. Remarkably, the transfer is the largest withdrawal since April 2018.<\/p>\n

BTC-e was a crypto exchange that was founded in July 2011 and shut down in 2017 as a result of a joint investigation by the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI. According to the allegations, BTC-e was instrumental in laundering money for ransomware attacks.<\/p>\n

As NewsBTC reported<\/a>, security researchers estimated that BTC-e was responsible for 95% of all ransomware payments and their conversion into fiat currencies.<\/p>\n

Russian citizen and co-founder of BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik, was also allegedly involved in the theft of 530,000 of the more than 800,000 Bitcoin stolen from Mt. Gox<\/a>. After serving two years in prison in France, Vinnik was extradited to the U.S. in August.<\/p>\n

As Chainalysis notes, BTC-e still held a significant amount of Bitcoin at the time of its shutdown in 2017. In April 2018, BTC-e moved more than 30,000 Bitcoin from its service wallet. About $50 million of that went to the now-sanctioned OTC counter Suex.<\/p>\n

BTC-e Fraudster About To Dump Their Bitcoin?<\/h2>\n

Since then, the fraudulent exchange\u2019s masterminds had been relatively quiet. Only in October 2021, BTC-e sent over 100 Bitcoin worth more than $6 million to personal wallets and eventually to several exchanges \u201cthat service Russia and other Eastern European countries,\u201d according to Chainalysis.<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s transaction appears to be the tip of the iceberg and a longer-planned move. The fraudsters of BTC-e began withdrawing cryptocurrencies as early as a month ago. On Oct. 26, both BTC-e and its successor exchange WEX sent small amounts of Bitcoin to Webmoney, a Russian electronic payment service.<\/p>\n

Then, on November 11, BTC-e conducted a test by indirectly transferring 100 Bitcoin to an exchange. After seemingly being successful, BTC-e pulled of yesterdays big move.<\/p>\n

BTC-e transaction as constructed by Chainalysis. Image: Chainalysis.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Chainalysis concluded that approximately 9,950 Bitcoin are remaining in personal wallets of the fraudsters, \u201cwhile the rest was moved through a series of intermediaries to four deposit addresses at two large exchanges. In the case of Exchange 1, depicted above, our analysis suggests a Russian exchange<\/a> may have served as an intermediary to launder this BTC-e money\u201d.<\/p>\n

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju confirmed that the BTC originate from the criminals linked to the 2014 Mt. Gox hack. \u201cThey sent 65 BTC to Hitbtc a few hours ago, so it\u2019s not a gov auction or anything,\u201d he said. Ju urged the exchange to suspend the account due to suspicious activity.<\/p>\n

7-year-old 10,000 $BTC<\/a> moved today.<\/p>\n

No surprise, it’s from criminals, like most of the old Bitcoins. It’s the BTC-e exchange wallet related to the 2014 Mt. Gox hack.<\/p>\n

They sent 65 BTC to @hitbtc<\/a> a few hours ago, so it’s not a gov auction or something.https:\/\/t.co\/6LnCxFAJfX<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/YdPrvJafxY<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Sp2higUqbq<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) November 24, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n

Thus, in the short term, the BTC-e fraudsters do not appear to be a threat, as they are once again only dumping smaller amounts of BTC. The Bitcoin price, meanwhile, is struggling with the crucial resistance at $16,000 USD.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin facing a crucial resistance at $16,600 in the 15-min-chart. Source: TradingView<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blockchain"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}