Garden Finance, a Bitcoin-native decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, is facing accusations from blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
ZachXBT said the platform earned most of its recent revenue from suspicious activity linked to the Lazarus Group, a hacking organization based in North Korea.
The claim was made in a June 21 post on X, where ZachXBT responded to a statement from Jaz Gulati, co-founder of Garden Finance. Gulati had shared that the project collected 38.86 BTC
$101,524.53
in fees, including $300,000 in just 12 days ending June 2.
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ZachXBT replied that this growth was largely built on funds coming from criminal sources. He stated that over 80% of those fees came from laundering efforts involving Bybit’s
$3.89B
stolen assets.
He also questioned the bridge’s setup, which advertises itself as “trustless” and “decentralized”. He said he tracked a single Coinbase
$3.89B
-funded account that kept sending more Bitcoin into cbBTC pools to keep them active.
According to ZachXBT, this ongoing support from one source contradicts Garden’s claim of decentralization.
In response, Gulati argued that 30 BTC in fees were collected before the Bybit incident. He also denied the claim that the platform is not truly decentralized, which suggests the label of “fake decentralized” was unfair.
On June 19, ZachXBT and Taylor Monahan explained the reasons behind a new wave of crypto-related scams. What did they say? Read the full story.
Having completed a Master’s degree in Economics, Politics, and Cultures of the East Asia region, Aaron has written scientific papers analyzing the differences between Western and Collective forms of capitalism in the post-World War II era.With close to a decade of experience in the FinTech industry, Aaron understands all of the biggest issues and struggles that crypto enthusiasts face. He’s a passionate analyst who is concerned with data-driven and fact-based content, as well as that which speaks to both Web3 natives and industry newcomers.Aaron is the go-to person for everything and anything related to digital currencies. With a huge passion for blockchain & Web3 education, Aaron strives to transform the space as we know it, and make it more approachable to complete beginners.Aaron has been quoted by multiple established outlets, and is a published author himself. Even during his free time, he enjoys researching the market trends, and looking for the next supernova.
