Crypto Exchange Platforms Continue to Block Stolen Ether

Cryptocurrency exchange platforms (both trading exchanges and swapping services) continue to report blockages of ETH stolen from Bybit. At the same time, some companies are refusing to cooperate with Bybit on this matter.

Who is right in this situation? Most likely, both sides have valid points.

The company refusing to cooperate with Bybit has legitimate reasons. Previously, Bybit repeatedly ignored requests from this company that were aimed at helping their clients unblock cryptocurrency on Bybit. It's completely understandable that after such treatment, this company wouldn't accommodate Bybit without sufficient grounds. In this case, Bybit should approach law enforcement agencies so that official requests for blocking funds would come directly from them. Moreover, blocking funds without an official police request does indeed seem unjustified.

At the same time, companies that are blocking this cryptocurrency can also be understood. If they don't block it and instead transfer it to their other clients, they're essentially putting those clients at risk. It's clear that soon this cryptocurrency will be flagged as stolen in all AML tracking services! And innocent holders who happen to be the last link in the chain before the cryptocurrency receives its "stolen" tag will suffer.

The value of blocked funds is already in the millions of dollars, but the amount stolen is orders of magnitude higher. This means that the majority of Ether withdrawn from Bybit continues to circulate in the network.

I want to offer advice that isn't profitable for us as an exchange service, but which I consider very important:

Hold off on purchasing ETH for now!

In the next couple of weeks, AML tags will be "catching up" with coins withdrawn from Bybit.

Even if the ETH you receive now is considered clean, it may soon be tagged as tainted.

It might be worth considering wrapped Ether tokens on other blockchains instead. You can find many such tokens on rabbit.io.