European Union regulators are allegedly examining whether OKX’s Web3 services played a role in laundering $100 million stolen in the Bybit hack. However, the exchange has strongly denied any ongoing investigations.
OKX Under Scrutiny for Alleged Money Laundering
A March 11 Bloomberg report, citing anonymous sources, claims that EU national regulators discussed concerns about OKX during a March 6 meeting of the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) Digital Finance Standing Committee. The focus is on whether OKX’s decentralized finance platform and wallet services facilitated laundering stolen funds.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou previously stated that approximately 40,233 Ether (ETH), worth nearly $100 million, had been laundered through OKX’s Web3 proxy. A portion of these funds is now reportedly untraceable.
OKX’s Web3 wallet service, which supports 53 million addresses across 100 blockchains, may fall outside MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulations due to its decentralized nature. However, Bloomberg reports that regulators from Austria and Croatia argue that it should be subject to EU oversight.
OKX Denies Allegations
OKX quickly refuted claims of an EU investigation, stating on X that “Bybit’s statements are spreading misinformation.” The exchange defended its Web3 wallet services, emphasizing its commitment to compliance.
OKX Global’s chief marketing officer, Haider Rafique, also responded, calling it “preposterous” to suggest the company would be involved in laundering stolen funds.
The $1.5 billion theft of ETH and ETH-related tokens from Bybit marks the biggest crypto hack ever recorded. Investigators have linked the attack to the North Korean hacking group Lazarus. Bybit claims to have frozen 3% of the stolen funds, but 20% have disappeared. CEO Ben Zhou has vowed to take action against the perpetrators.
