The cryptocurrency exchange Binance assisted in the arrest of three individuals involved in laundering $42 million, according to a statement by Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Cooperation between the Cyber Police Department and Binance began in early 2020 after the department became interested in the exchange’s analytics and transaction-tracing capabilities related to financial crime and fraud.
In June, authorities halted the activities of a criminal group that offered services to launder illicit proceeds. The total value of its operations over two years amounted to $42 million.
“Because the market for digital currencies sees a high volume of financial transactions with funds obtained as a result of hacker attacks on international companies, malware distribution, theft of funds from bank accounts of foreign companies and citizens, the collaboration between the Cyber Police Department and Binance contributes to the rapid exposure of those involved in such offences,” said the head of the department, Alexander Grinchak.
As part of the investigation, Binance’s ‘Sentry’ unit worked with analytics company TRM Labs.
It is noted that this marks Binance’s first successful operation under the ‘Bulletproof Exchangers’ initiative, aimed at preventing illicit activity in the cryptocurrency space.
Earlier in 2020, reports said Binance user accounts were blocked at the request of Ukrainian police. It later emerged that this was connected to an investigation into a cryptocurrency theft of about $1 million, parts of which surfaced on Binance.
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