ZachXBT’s Allegations Against Garden Finance
ZachXBT, well-known for his investigative work in the blockchain industry, has made serious allegations against Garden Finance, which promotes itself as a rapid Bitcoin transfer solution. He asserts that the platform is implicated in the laundering of cryptocurrencies connected to significant theft incidents, notably the Bybit hack. In a post shared on June 21 via social media platform X, ZachXBT stated that an alarming 80% of Garden Finance’s recent revenue from fees is reportedly linked to unlawful transactions associated with the notorious North Korean hacking group, Lazarus Group.
This claim came after Jaz Gulati, one of the co-founders of Garden Finance, boasted about the platform’s financial achievements, highlighting that it accrued approximately $300,000 in fees through transactions totaling 38.86 Bitcoin in a span of just 12 days leading up to June 2.
ZachXBT pointedly commented, “It’s interesting you didn’t mention that over 80% of your collected fees originated from Chinese launderers moving funds linked to the Bybit hack from the Lazarus Group.”
Further investigation led ZachXBT to assert that a single entity was consistently boosting the cbBTC liquidity from Coinbase, raising concerns about the integrity of Garden’s claims about decentralization. He questioned how the operation could be considered decentralized if he could observe this particular actor replenishing liquidity for several days consecutively.
Garden Finance’s Defense
In defense, Jaz Gulati rejected the accusations, arguing that prior to the Bybit scandal, Garden Finance had already generated 30 BTC in fees. He labeled the assertions as unfounded misinformation and dismissed the characterization of the platform as “fake decentralized” as baseless. According to Garden Finance, their service allows for cross-chain exchanges within half a minute and imposes no custody risk on users.
Their analytics indicate successful facilitation of over 24,984 Bitcoins worth upwards of $1.5 billion across more than 40,571 atomically secured swaps, alongside fee collection amounting to 40.11 BTC, with a standout transaction reaching as much as 10 BTC.
Cointelegraph attempted to reach Jaz Gulati for further commentary via X but did not receive a reply by the time this article was published.
Related News in the Crypto Sector
In related news within the crypto sector, Iurii Gugnin, the founder behind Evita Pay, a cryptocurrency payment service, was apprehended in New York last week. He faces a total of 22 federal charges linked to an expansive money laundering operation reportedly involving sums exceeding $530 million. The United States Department of Justice alleges that Gugnin orchestrated stablecoin exchanges that enabled clients associated with sanctioned Russian financial institutions like Sberbank and VTB to circumvent restrictions and access critical U.S. technologies. This illicit activity is said to have occurred from June 2023 through January 2025.
If convicted on charges including wire fraud and illicit money transmission, Gugnin may face a potential life sentence.
