BTC-e
A cryptocurrency exchange (2011–2017) that the U.S. DOJ called one of the primary ways cybercriminals laundered illicit funds. It received proceeds of hacks, ransomware, and drug sales — including ~300,000 BTC tied to the Mt. Gox theft — and was shut down in 2017 when operator Alexander Vinnik was arrested.
Also known as: BTC-e, WEX
Summary
BTC-e was a cryptocurrency exchange that operated from 2011 until July 2017. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, it was "one of the primary ways by which cyber criminals around the world transferred, laundered, and stored" criminal proceeds, processing more than $9 billion across over a million users. [1][2]
How it operated
The DOJ said BTC-e did not register as a U.S. money services business and ran no know-your-customer or anti-money-laundering controls, collecting virtually no customer identification — which made it attractive for laundering. It received funds from computer intrusions, ransomware, identity theft, corrupt officials, and narcotics sales, and used shell companies to process fiat conversions. [1][2]
Link to Mt. Gox
BTC-e was tied to the collapse of the Mt. Gox exchange: investigators say roughly 300,000 BTC stolen from Mt. Gox were laundered through BTC-e. The platform was shut down in July 2017, the same time operator Alexander Vinnik was arrested in Greece. [2]
Outcome
In 2017 FinCEN fined BTC-e $110 million and Vinnik $12 million. Vinnik was extradited to the U.S. in 2022 and pleaded guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy in May 2024; the DOJ said he was responsible for at least $121 million in losses. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
People & entities involved
Sources (2)
See also
Gala Games exploitTokensOn May 20, 2024 an attacker abused a privileged minter account on the GALA token contract to mint 5 billion GALA (≈$200M+ nominal) and dumped ~600M of them for ~$22M of ETH before Gala froze the address. Gala Games called it an internal access-control failure; the attacker later returned the ~$22M.
HEX / PulseChain (Richard Heart)ProjectsCrypto projects (HEX, PulseChain, PulseX) created by Richard Heart (Richard Schueler). In July 2023 the U.S. SEC sued him for offering unregistered securities that raised $1B+ and for allegedly misappropriating ~$12M for luxury goods (including a 555-carat diamond). A court dismissed the case in 2024 for lack of U.S. jurisdiction; there was no finding of wrongdoing and Heart denies the allegations.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.
