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KuCoin criticized for helping ‘launder’ $9.5M from fake Ledger app

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KuCoin criticized for helping ‘launder’ $9.5M from fake Ledger app

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has linked a fake Ledger Live app to over 50 victims, who have lost a total of $9.5 million worth of crypto between them.

He traced stolen funds to KuCoin deposit addresses and called out the crypto exchange via Telegram and X.

Over 150 addresses tied to a known money laundering service were reportedly used to deposit stolen funds to the exchange.

App Store honeypot

Garrett Dutton of the band G. Love & Special Sauce initially drew attention to the fake wallet app, previously available on Apple’s App Store, when he took to X on Saturday to lament losing his retirement fund “in an instant.”

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Dutton’s thread explains that he lost 5.9 bitcoin (BTC),worth approximately $440,000, after being “tricked” into entering his seed phrase into the app.

Read more: Thai police want Interpol to track alleged KuCoin money launderer

Around 12 hours after Dutton’s post, ZachXBT flagged nine transaction IDs which the sleuth claims show Dutton’s BTC being “laundered” via crypto exchange KuCoin.

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Two days later, ZachXBT published a follow-up community alert to his Investigations Telegram group. It linked the fake app to “$9.5M stolen from 50+ suspected victims between April 7–13 across Bitcoin, EVM, Tron, Solana, & Ripple.”

The top three victims reportedly lost a combined total of $7.25 million in various cryptocurrencies.

KuCoin under fire

ZachXBT’s Telegram post also tied over 150 KuCoin deposit addresses to money laundering service AudiA6.

He also called out KuCoin on X, where he highlighted both these fake Ledger Live app-linked thefts and the recent Bitcoin Depot loss, accusing the exchange of allowing money launderers to “operate freely.”

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Read more: Bitcoin Depot didn’t spot 50 BTC hack for three days, report

The exchange eventually replied to ZachXBT’s list of theft addresses in the Dutton case, 48 hours after it was posted. Other on-chain investigators have flagged addresses allegedly linked to scams who have deposited significant sums to KuCoin over recent weeks.

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Just over two years ago, KuCoin and two of its founders were charged with flouting U.S. anti-money laundering laws.

Protos reached out to KuCoin, but it did not respond immediately, we will update this piece if we hear back.

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Crypto World

DOJ opens $40 million OneCoin victim claims after $4 billion global crypto fraud

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U.S. DOJ hits Paxful for $4 million in case tied to illegal sex work, money laundering

Victims of the OneCoin $4 billion fraud scheme can now seek compensation through a $40 million fund of seized assets, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday.

Between 2014 and 2019, Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood, co-founders of OneCoin Ltd. (OneCoin), and others operated an international cryptocurrency investment scheme defrauding up to 3.4 million investors from around the globe, the DOJ said.

The Sofia, Bulgaria-based operation marketed and sold a fraudulent crypto by the same name through a global multi-level-marketing (MLM) network.

Victims worldwide invested over $4 billion worldwide in the fraudulent cryptocurrency which operated through a network of promoters, who solicited investments in return for purported tokens, but notably did not actually involve any cryptocurrencies nor did OneCoin exist on any blockchain.

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The ponzi scheme, which the DOJ called “one of the largest global fraud schemes in history”, collapsed in 2017, after Ignatova and her team were found to have manipulated OneCoin’s perceived value through the automatic generation of new coins.

In June 2024, the DOJ offered a new $5 million reward for the missing Cryptqueen. Greenwood, who allegedly called the investors “idiots”, admitted to federal wire fraud and money laundering charges in 2022.

“OneCoin’s founders sold a lie disguised as cryptocurrency, costing victims more than $4 billion worldwide,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York. He also said the DOJ would continue working to seize criminal proceeds and prioritize getting money back into the hands of victims.

The compensation process for OneCoin comes roughly four weeks after the FTX Recovery Trust announced it would distribute $2.2 billion to creditors in its fourth payout under the exchange’s Chapter 11 plan. Earlier rounds totalled more than $6 billion as part of a process aimed at recovering assets for users of the once-prominent crypto trading platform, which collapsed in November 2022, triggering a steep crypto bear market.

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Fed Chair Nominee Discloses Holdings in Crypto and AI

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Federal Reserve, Government, Donald Trump, Cryptocurrency Investment

Update (April 14 7:51 PM UTC): This article has been updated to with date of nomination hearing.

Kevin Warsh, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve to replace Chair Jerome Powell, has reported millions of dollars in assets ahead of his confirmation hearing, including investments in crypto and AI companies.

In a filing with the US Office of Government Ethics, Warsh reported Excepted Investment Funds (EIFs) in Compound, Dapper Labs, Kinetic, as well as AI companies Delphi, Conversion, Factory, Glue and others ahead of his confirmation hearing in the Senate.

While the prospective Fed chair’s assets amounted to more than $100 million, none of his crypto and AI investments included a value range, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

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Federal Reserve, Government, Donald Trump, Cryptocurrency Investment
Sample of Kevin Warsh’s asset disclosure forms. Source: US Office of Government Ethics

It’s unclear why the value of the crypto and AI investments were not included in the disclosures, but the ethics’ office rules do not require reporting for assets under $1,000. Among the biggest disclosures were more than $50 million in the Juggernaut Fund and more than $10 million in income from consulting fees for Duquesne Family Office, the investment firm of Stanley Druckenmiller.

Trump announced Warsh as his pick to lead the US central bank in January, but only formally advanced his name to the Senate in March following numerous threats to oust Powell. Whoever heads the Fed has significant influence over US financial policy, including federal interest rates.

Related: Deutsche Börse invests $200 million in Kraken parent Payward

Powell’s second four-year term as chair ends on May 15. The Senate Banking Committee announced Tuesday afternoon that it will hold a hearing on Warsh’s nomination to replace the Fed chair on April 21.

Trump still hasn’t announced key nominations for financial agencies

While the Senate Banking Committee may soon consider Warsh’s nomination, Trump has not signaled that he plans to announce additional picks for commissioners at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), both of which have empty leadership seats at a crucial time for digital asset regulation.

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The SEC currently has only three out of five commissioners in its leadership — all Republicans — while another Republican, Michael Selig, is the sole commissioner at the CFTC, where four remaining slots are unfilled. Both regulatory agencies are expected to play significant roles in digital asset regulation should the Senate pass a crypto market structure bill that has been stalled in the chamber since July 2025.

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