In brief – A new report from blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs says that crypto exchange HTX has kept operating under the same brand following UK sanctions, while rebuilding its on-chain infrastructure. – HTX has rotated wallets across TRON, Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and…
lana, creating a “continuous moving target for compliance professionals,” TRM Labs said. – The exchange told Decrypt the activity reflects “routine, security-driven platform operations,” and rejected any characterization implying otherwise. Crypto exchange HTX has rebuilt its underlying wallet infrastructure in the weeks since the UK sanctioned it, rotating deposit and hot wallets on a rapid cycle, blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs said in a report Tuesday
The exchange has “rebuilt its on-chain plumbing,” TRM Labs said, with the result that address-list screening “cannot keep pace” The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation designated Huobi Global S.A., the entity behind HTX, on May 26, the first time the UK applied the measure to a crypto exchange of that size. The package of sanctions targeted crypto exchanges and the “A7 network,” which British authorities said was “used by Russia to evade existing restrictions” and channel funds to fuel its invasion of Ukraine. In the announcement, the UK government flagged HTX as a “major global cryptocurrency exchange” suspected of having channeled more than $1.5 billion to the Kremlin.
A moving target In the weeks following the sanctions, TRM Labs said, HTX stayed live under the same brand but began cycling its wallets across , , , and , retiring each hot wallet and funding address within hours and shifting activity to fresh ones.The effect, according to the firm, is a “continuous moving target.” A block list built on specific HTX addresses “goes stale within hours,” TRM said, and would clear most activity the exchange has run since the designation, because that flow moves through addresses no list has seen. The firm argued that screening…