The United States has accused two Russian nationals of taking part in the hack of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox. Alexey Bilyuchenko, 43, and Aleksandr Verner, 29, are charged with conspiring to launder 647,000 bitcoins from the exchange.
In 2014, Mt. Gox suffered a massive loss of what was then worth about half a billion dollars in cryptocurrency. This was one of the first signs of how vulnerable exchanges and cryptocurrency users are to cybercriminals.
Reuters was unable to locate contact details for Bilyuchenko or Verner, nor were their whereabouts immediately clear. Bilyuchenko was a key associate of Alexander Vinnik, a Russian cybercrime kingpin arrested in 2017. The Department of Justice said Bilyuchenko is also charged with conspiring with Vinnik to operate BTC-e, a now-defunct Russian exchange.
The US Department of Justice said Vinnik narrowly avoided arrest by destroying his computer, tossing it into the sea, and immediately flying back to Moscow.
The Department of Justice said Bilyuchenko and Verner are charged with conspiring to launder approximately 647,000 bitcoins from their hack of Mt. Gox. This event was one of the first signs of how vulnerable cryptocurrency exchanges and users are when it comes to cybercrime. The industry has since seen a string of massive thefts.
The news of the charges against the two Russian nationals comes as the White House has reported that Iran is helping Russia build a drone factory near Moscow. Furthermore, UAE expats are turning to cryptocurrency to send remittances home, while Coinbase has launched a crackdown and US states are pushing to halt its staking product.
