Fisco, a Japanese financial information business firm that operates the Zaif crypto exchange, has verified reports that it has stopped a lawsuit in the US against the training platform, Binance, whom it indicts for encouraging the laundering of over $9 million worth of bitcoin (BTC) in a hack that pushed the Japanese trade to the edge of total collapse in 2018.
Because of the hack, Fisco – which worked an opponent crypto trade stage before its merger with Zaif – stepped in to purchase the organization from its previous administrator, the Osaka-based Tech Agency.
Thieves made away with BTC 1,451.7 (roughly USD 15 million at today’s prices, but closer to USD 9 million at the time) during the hack. But Fisco believes that the hackers took the stolen bitcoin to Binance, making use of what it called the latter’s “lax” KYC (know-your-customer) policies to stay under the radar.

Fisco, meanwhile, is yet to respond to a request for comment but earlier made a press release stating only that one of its subsidies had indeed launched legal proceedings against Binance in the United States. The firm added,
“We will notify [the press] as soon as possible if there are any issues that need to be disclosed at any point in the future.”
Both exchanges are distinguished to be relatively very forthcoming with media comments. Still, they have thus far remained almost silent on the matter – although they may be exercising caution considering the legal case in question is now active.
In its American court filing, the Japanese firm stated that it had used blockchain analytics solutions to trace the sale or trading of the stolen BTC to Binance-held accounts.
Fisco’s lawyers wrote,
“Crypto exchanges, including Binance, have long been on notice that the failure to implement proper KYC procedures facilitates violations of anti-money laundering laws. […] Cryptocurrency thieves also know that the failure to implement proper KYC procedures facilitates money laundering, and they know which crypto exchanges are the laxest.”
The filing’s authors also referred to a Chainalysis report from earlier this year that claimed, in the words of the lawyers,
“Binance and another exchange, Huobi, received more than 50% of the USD 2.8 billion in illicit bitcoin and ‘lead all exchanges in illicit bitcoin received by a significant margin.'”
Back then, Binance said that it is “aware of the growing trend and movements of illicit funds” and that they “are working with like-minded partners such as Chainalysis to improve on existing systems and address these concerns.“
The Zaif hack witnessed criminals make off with some USD 62.5 million in crypto back in September 2018.
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