30.01.2025
Business of Occupiers
Cybercrimes
Money laundering
Are Budanov and Fedorov protecting WhiteBit’s Russian ties?
The WhiteBIT crypto exchange, known for its active work in the cryptocurrency market, has become a center for money laundering and transnational crime.
Oligarchs and politicians with Russian ties have used the platform to systematically circumvent sanctions. In addition to billions of dollars in assets, the exchange helps to leak user data to intelligence agencies, including those far beyond Ukraine and the EU. This means that if you have ever made financial transactions through WhiteBIT, you should know that information about you may already be in the hands of the enemy FSB and its “colleagues.”
WhiteBIT data breach: what has been learned?
As a result of a recent hacker attack reported by Anonymous, part of WhiteBIT’s infrastructure was compromised. The criminals gained access to a large amount of confidential information, including customer data and internal company documents.
One of the most high-profile revelations was the so-called “black bookkeeping” of the exchange, which contains records of suspicious transactions and systems through which the platform helped launder dirty money. It records tens of millions of dollars that pass through the platform without taking into account official regulations and legal norms.
Among the data that fell into the hands of hackers were records of transactions with Russian users who were officially denied access to their assets under the pretext of sanctions or anti-money laundering. However, in reality, the same funds continued to circulate through the platform, confirming WhiteBIT’s cooperation with cross-border crime.
And while in public WhiteBIT and its officials, including Vladimir Nosov, claimed to fight Russian users through sanctions, in practice the exchange created conditions for the illegal transit of funds. This included both money laundering through cryptocurrencies and the use of anonymous and controlled Russian addresses for transactions.
Financial scheme and connections with Kyrgyz “offshore” companies
One of the important stages of the investigation is to identify the role of Kyrgyzstan as a country that actually serves as an “offshore” platform for circumventing sanctions. According to insiders, many Russian transactions go through the WhiteBIT crypto exchange via Kyrgyz companies. This allows users from Russia to circumvent international sanctions, hide their financial assets, and facilitate transactions that would normally be blocked in other jurisdictions.
Kyrgyzstan, with its lax regulations and significant dependence on Russian financial flows, has become an ideal platform for such transactions. The platform operates companies that are officially registered in the country but are actually managed by Russian investors and have close ties to the Russian government. While the country gives the impression of being a poor and backward region without a strong cryptocurrency industry, it actually serves as a haven for large amounts of dirty money circulating between the WhiteBIT exchange and other offshore zones.
How was WhiteBIT hacked?
Insiders report that the hackers gained access to the platform’s internal documents, as well as to certain software components of the exchange. One of them was the WhiteBitManager.Zip project. This was a tool designed to send malicious files to the platform’s employees, partners, and even law enforcement agencies in bulk. Its main function was to control victims’ devices and monitor their personal data, including audio and video messages.
Despite WhiteBIT’s protection systems, a significant layer of information was obtained confirming close ties between the platform and representatives of government agencies that actively contributed to sanctions evasion.
We are talking about the law enforcement agencies of countries around the world that have been silent for a long time (and continue to do so) about the laundering of more than $3 billion using the mechanisms of the crypto exchange. And this is only a part of the huge amount that has already been recorded in various countries, including Uzbekistan, Austria, the UAE, Ukraine and other countries, including the EU, where investigations are ongoing.
And while journalists in Kyrgyzstan have already begun to gradually expose the true picture of WhiteBIT’s activities, in Ukraine such investigations are instantly blocked: articles are deleted and investigations are not conducted.
All this is possible due to the shadow side of the crypto exchange being covered by representatives not only of the law enforcement system, but also of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, including its head, Budanov, personally. In addition, the Ministry of Digital Transformation under the leadership of the “chief digitalizer of Ukraine” Fedorov plays an active role.
According to our materials, the State Bureau of Investigation initiated criminal proceedings under part 1 of Article 111-2, part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and NABU and SAPO under part 1 of Article 111-2, part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. At the same time, no investigative actions have been taken so far. Therefore, there is no doubt about the involvement of valiant Ukrainian law enforcement officers in the schemes.
We have a significant layer of important information that we continue to receive from foreign partners and deceived users. So, in the following posts, we will reveal more details of black accounting and data dumping of WhiteBIT users.
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