On April 18, crypto exchange eXch announced that it would cease operations on May 1. There have been previous reports that the platform was used to launder some of the stolen funds from the Bybit exchange. In an April 17 announcement, eXch said a majority of its management team voted to "cease operations and exit" in response to allegations that the North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group used the platform to launder approximately $35 million in funds derived from the $1.4 billion hacking attack on Bybit. The exchange said it had become the target of a "joint transatlantic enforcement operation" aimed at shutting down its operations and possibly filing criminal charges. "Although we have resisted multiple attempts to shut down infrastructure and maintained operations, we believe it is meaningless to continue operating in a hostile environment where we have been targeted for signals intelligence surveillance and simply because some have misinterpreted our purpose," eXch said in a statement. The exchange initially denied allegations by blockchain detectives that it helped Lazarus Group launder money, but admitted handling "a very small portion of the funds" from the February hack.