Cryptocurrency exchange eXch has announced it will officially cease operations on May 1, following allegations that the platform was used to launder funds connected to the high-profile Bybit hack.
The decision was made public in an April 17 statement, where the exchange cited increasing pressure from authorities and internal consensus among its leadership team to withdraw from the market.
The controversy centers on claims that North Korea’s Lazarus Group laundered approximately $35 million through eXch. These funds were part of the estimated $1.4 billion stolen in a massive exploit targeting Bybit earlier this year.
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eXch Claims It’s Target of Transatlantic Crackdown Amid Legal Threats
eXch stated it had become the focus of an “active transatlantic operation” designed to dismantle its infrastructure and potentially bring legal charges against its operators.
Despite initial denials, eXch later acknowledged processing a small portion of the hacked funds. The company maintained that the transactions were “insignificant” and insisted it had not knowingly facilitated illicit activity.
In the shutdown notice, eXch criticized what it described as “a hostile environment” driven by misinterpretation of its privacy-focused operations. It claimed ongoing surveillance efforts, including signals intelligence (SIGINT), had made continued operation untenable.
“Even though we’ve resisted several shutdown attempts, we see no value in remaining operational under constant threat,” the company stated.
Management emphasized its commitment to user privacy and criticized other exchanges for implementing what it called “nonsensical policies” under the guise of anti-money laundering.
eXch has announced that they will shut down all operations May 1st 2025.
If you remember, during the ByBit hack Lazarus group used eXch to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars of stolen Ethereum. pic.twitter.com/dIXHhaZmUA
— vxdb (@vxdb) April 17, 2025
The fallout from the Bybit hack, one of the largest in crypto history, has been significant. More than $5 billion in user withdrawals followed the breach.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou initially assured users the company could absorb the losses, but the exchange later shut down its NFT marketplace and scaled back Web3 offerings.
By April 10, Bybit had recovered to its pre-hack market share of around 7%. The company also paid over $2 million in bounties for information that helped trace and freeze approximately 89% of the stolen funds by late March.
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Crypto Trading Volumes Dip in Q1 2025 as Market Momentum Fades
Notably, crypto trading activity declined significantly in the first quarter of 2025, with spot trading volumes on the top 10 centralized exchanges falling to $5.4 trillion — a 16.3% drop from the previous quarter, according to CoinGecko.
Binance retained its lead with a 40.7% market share despite a steep monthly decline, while Bybit saw the sharpest drop, down over 52% following a major hack. HTX was the only top exchange to post quarterly growth.
The broader market reflected similar weakness, with total crypto market capitalization falling 18.6% to $2.8 trillion. Daily trading volumes contracted by 27.3%, and Bitcoin, despite hitting a record high in January, ended the quarter down 11.8%.
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Key Takeaways
- eXch will shut down on May 1 after being linked to laundering funds from the $1.4B Bybit hack.
- The platform claims it is the target of a transatlantic crackdown and blames a hostile regulatory climate.
- Crypto trading volumes dropped 16.3% in Q1 2025, with Bybit hit hardest post-hack.
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