A crypto wallet holding a significant amount of bitcoins belonging to BTC-E, one of the oldest bitcoin exchanges, made a transaction that split the amount into two wallets this Wednesday. According to our data, 9,950 bitcoins are stored in the administration’s personal wallets, and the remaining 50 were split between two cryptocurrency exchanges. The total withdrawal amounts to more than $165 million at current exchange rates.
BTC-E is known for its role in money laundering, accepting payments from darkweb marketplaces and other illegal sources of income. We estimate that about $4 million was funneled through it in 2022.
According to an investigation by the Russian publication Lenta.ru, the website RAMP also used BTC-E to conduct transactions. Problems with anonymity on the BTC-E exchange are considered the final blow to RAMP, which was one of the first Russian darknet markets, as it had already been undermined by the ongoing cyberwar with Hydra.
In addition to laundering funds from the darkweb market
In December 2013, about 5,400 BTC were stolen from this exchange, worth about $6 million at the time, some of which ended up in the BTC-E deposit wallet. In the same month, the company ceased operations and its website was removed from the network.
