PANews reported on April 18 that according to Cointelegraph, the crypto exchange eXch announced that it will cease operations on May 1. It was previously reported that the platform was used to launder part of the stolen funds from the Bybit exchange. In an announcement on April 17, eXch said that most members of its management team voted to "cease operations and exit" in response to allegations that the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group laundered about $35 million through the platform-the funds came from the $1.4 billion hacker attack suffered by Bybit. The exchange said it has become the target of a "transatlantic joint law enforcement action" aimed at shutting down its business and possibly filing criminal charges. "Although we have withstood multiple attempts to shut down our infrastructure and maintain operations, we believe that it is meaningless to continue operating in a hostile environment that has become a target of signal intelligence surveillance just because some people misinterpret our purpose," eXch said in a statement. The exchange initially denied the blockchain detective's allegations that it helped the Lazarus Group launder money, but admitted to handling "a very small portion of funds" from the February hacking incident.