London's High Court has ordered six cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, Luno, and Kraken, to divulge client information to assist trace $10.7 million that was stolen from a U.K.-based exchange in 2020.
After being breached in late 2020, the exchange, which maintains its anonymity while tracking stolen cash, was able to locate $1.7 million of the illicit gains.
The $1.7 million was split across 26 accounts on six offshore cryptocurrency exchanges, all of which must now provide papers in accordance with a new UK regulation that applies to foreign businesses..
The U.K.-based exchange was defended by Syedur Rahman, a partner at the law firm Rahman Ravelli.
“The case is a huge step forward for those who are trying to recover assets that have been taken fraudulently and moved across borders,"
“This ruling is concrete proof of the value of the change to Practice Direction 6B and the possibilities that it offers to anyone facing the task of tracing and recovering what is theirs."
This year saw a huge spike in cryptocurrency-related theft, with ActionFraud reporting that $273 million had been stolen in the U.K. 2022 will see a 32% increase over 2021.
U.K. Last Monday, the government voted to grant law enforcement more authority to seize bitcoin assets linked to illegal behavior, taking action to halt the growth of cryptocurrency crime.
