Casey Wagner

Bitcoin-only accumulation platform Swan warned over the weekend that users involved with bitcoin mixing services may see their accounts terminated due to increased scrutiny from banks and custodians.



Swan’s banking and custodial partners “will no longer service clients who directly interact with bitcoin mixing services such as Wasabi, Samourai and similar services,” Swan said in a statement to users on Friday.&nbsp;



Depositing “directly to” or withdrawing “directly from” crypto mixing services could result in Swan’s banking and custody partners terminating the user’s account, the warning added.



Swan noted that banks and custodians have changed their policies based on new proposed rules from US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). If enacted, it <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/fincen-crypto-mixing-controls">would require regulated financial institutions to report</a> transactions when there is reason to suspect involvement in transaction mixing. &nbsp;



“Mixing offers a critical service that allows players in the ransomware ecosystem, rogue state actors and other criminals to fund their unlawful activities and obfuscate the flow of ill-gotten gains,” <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/fincen">FinCEN</a> Director Andrea Gacki said in October when the proposal was released.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-exploit-bitcoin-mixer">Security firms track FTX exploiter through Bitcoin mixer</a>



Given the proposal, which Swan vehemently opposes, Swan chief technology officer and co-founder Yan Pritzker is unsurprised that the company’s financial institution partners have taken a stance against mixers.&nbsp;



“The current political climate has pushed a lot of fear into the banking sector, with most banks simply refusing to do business with anything in ‘crypto,’” Pritzker <a href="https://x.com/skwp/status/1723444038932582414?s=20">wrote</a> on X.&nbsp;



“There is no way to process USD in the United States if you do not use a bank or Money Services Business…and all such Financial Institutions…are subject to rules and guidelines from FinCEN, [Financial Action Task Force], and other unelected bodies,” he added.&nbsp;



The warning comes amid an increasingly hostile US regulatory environment for crypto mixing services as agencies and lawmakers grow concerned about mixers’ ability to help illicit actors launder money.&nbsp;



Last month, a federal judge sided with the US Treasury after Coin Center and other crypto industry advocates <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coin-center-sues-over-treasurys-tornado-cash-sanctions">sued the Department over its Tornado Cash sanctions</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Coin Center and its co-plaintiffs argued that the Treasury overstepped its boundaries by sanctioning mixing service <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/tornado-cash">Tornado Cash</a>, which they say is simply computer code. The court <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flnd.447304/gov.uscourts.flnd.447304.74.0.pdf">dismissed</a> the argument, asserting that the Treasury, under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, can sanction any entity in which a foreigner has an interest.&nbsp;



“The indirect interest that TORN holders (including the Tornado Cash founders, developers and DAO) have in the increased use and popularity of the Tornado Cash service as a whole is sufficient to establish that foreigners have an “interest” in the core software tool,” Judge Kent Wetherell wrote in the ruling.



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Swan tells customers its partners have 0 tolerance for mixing services 

Michael Bodley

Ben Strack

Swan Bitcoin appears to have been struggling as the company has moved to transfer all of its assets to two new custodians — even as its CEO harshly criticized other crypto exchanges in the wake of the SEC’s lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase this week.&nbsp;



Users of the bitcoin-only trading platform this week have reported significant outages that they say have prevented them from moving assets with ease. Fiat on- and off-ramp services were affected.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The company said in a <a href="https://help.swanbitcoin.com/hc/en-us/articles/14874253038743-New-Partners-at-Swan-May-2023-">statement</a> posted on its website Wednesday that “all funds are being transferred” to its qualified custodians, Fortress Trust and BitGo Trust Company. CEO Cory Klippsten confirmed this in an email to Blockworks in which he also noted that the company was migrating from Prime Trust and Fireblocks.



The US-based company’s site also listed a number of service outages dating back to May 26.&nbsp;



Whether the root cause of Swan’s problems — which appear to span multiple weeks — could be attributed entirely to the custodian switch was not immediately clear.&nbsp;



The company told customers that the transfer of their assets to Fortress and BitGo commenced on May 26, coinciding with the outages. Swan said that the company “carefully weighed the pros and cons” of moving all assets in one swoop, adding that it had reached a consensus that “moving at once will create the least amount of disruption for Swan clients.”



Swan’s website on Wednesday separately said its “bitcoin purchasing” and “ACH Pull” services were both “under maintenance.”&nbsp;



“Communication with clients has been constant and detailed,” Klippsten told Blockworks Wednesday. He added that withdrawals of BTC and USD were available throughout the custodian migration via client service channels. The ability for users to withdraw via the website or app directly resumed Tuesday.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">‘Degraded performance’ across business lines</h2>



At the same time, Swan’s wire transfers, as well as its custody and trading business lines, were both operating under “degraded performance.” The company on its website listed a “major platform upgrade” as being under way each day since May 30.&nbsp;



Swan attributed its custodial switch to plans the company put in place in January. At the time, Klippsten <a href="https://www.swanbitcoin.com/bitcoiners-its-winning-time/">wrote</a> that his company had 100 full-time employees, or “Swans,” divided across five continents and cited its “rapid expansion into new products and markets.”



From its roots at a bitcoin (<a href="https://www.blockworksresearch.com/assets/btc">BTC</a>) exchange, Klippsten’s Swan has over the years rolled out a number of new bitcoin-only products.&nbsp;



Those include support for both retail and institutional investors, including an advisory service designed to cater to registered investment advisers (RIAs). Swan has also played up its BTC-based retirement account services, as well as bitcoin maximalist job boards.&nbsp;



But Swan’s Twitter account, as well as that of Klippsten, has been active this week reacting to the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-changpeng-zhao-face-sec-charges">SEC’s allegations against Binance</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-coinbase">Coinbase</a> for alleged securities violations and other charges.



The exchanges have denied wrongdoing.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Imagine if Coinbase focused on Bitcoin financial services rather than altcoin trading. They’d be a massive financial institution with millions of diehard fans around the world. No one forced Armstrong to go along with Balaji’s plan to add a hundred unregistered securities.&mdash; Cory Klippsten 🖐️ Swan.com 🦢 #Bitcoin (@coryklippsten) <a href="https://twitter.com/coryklippsten/status/1666156758061191168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The company hosted a Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/SwanBitcoin/status/1666444081612873730">Space</a> about the lawsuits — which included “#Bitcoin Not Crypto” in the title.



Klippsten called the SEC’s lawsuit against Coinbase an outcome that was “obvious, inevitable and entirely self-inflicted” in a Wednesday Twitter thread, calling out Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Balaji Srinivasan, a former chief technology officer at the exchange.



Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said Tuesday that the SEC’s actions amid the lack of US crypto regulations harms companies like Coinbase “that have a demonstrated commitment to compliance.”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Custodial migration “not 100% complete”</h2>



Some Swan users appeared confused as to the status of their services, Swan on its website site said it had put in place a number of measures to update customers on the status of their assets.&nbsp;



That included a new “snapshot” feature designed to provide a placeholder update of customer balances “at the time of migration.” The custodial switch was still not “100% complete” through 5 pm ET on Wednesday.&nbsp;



Customers could not, however, view the balance of their dollar holdings during the move. Swan told customers that the migration ought to be complete by June 11 — it started on May 26.&nbsp;



On Wednesday, “self-service Bitcoin withdrawals” remained unaffected by the outages, while “instant buys,” as well as “automated savings plans” and “automated withdrawals” were not operational.&nbsp;



Klippsten said he expected “buys” to be available on Wednesday night or Thursday, adding that new user sign ups could resume by the weekend.



Swan capped off its post by saying that the company would re-open in Texas in a “plan to return by July or August.” And the firm told customers that it’s “working on bringing Swan services to New York” within three to six months.&nbsp;



“Stay tuned for an email announcement!” Swan said.



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Swan Bitcoin Customers Struggle to Buy BTC

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_6238b83c95784" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Around 30 clients were impacted, but the full list has not been released yet from HubSpot, nor is the precise nature of the data known</li>
 <li>Companies known to be affected said customer funds are still safe and secure</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



In an attempt to target large crypto stakeholders, hackers breached third-party marketing vendor <a href="https://www.hubspot.com/en-us/march-2022-security-incident." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HubSpot</a> last week.



NYDIG, Pantera Capital, <a href="https://twitter.com/BlockFi/status/1504982848771608586?s=20&amp;t=nEdl35DgSTJHl-INlo8Z_g" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BlockFi</a>, Circle and <a href="https://twitter.com/SwanBitcoin/status/1505261139571191813?s=20&amp;t=Cod2RQU8PdmBbXcAxeuF-A" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swan Bitcoin</a> were among those hit by the data breach, per outreach emails reviewed by Blockworks. Affected companies maintain customer funds are still safe and secure. User information was leaked to hackers, but passwords and other sensitive personal information were not. 



HubSpot — which stores users’ names, email addresses and phone numbers — said that the breach was a “targeted incident focused on customers in the cryptocurrency industry.”



One “bad actor,” according to a spokesperson from HubSpot, had “compromised a HubSpot employee account” to access the information. Around 30 clients were impacted, all of whom have been informed.



“We have terminated access for the compromised HubSpot employee account and removed the ability for other employees to take certain actions in customer accounts,” the Massachusetts-based company said in an email to Blockworks. “We take the privacy of our customers and their data incredibly seriously.”



Adam Healy, chief security officer at BlockFi, said that vendors like HubSpot who are “trusted with client information” are “subjected to a number of reviews.”&nbsp;



“However, even in those cases, vendors can make mistakes and as evidenced by Friday&#8217;s events have incidents that impact us and our clients,” Healy said in a statement sent to Blockworks.&nbsp;



Circle, the financial services firm that issued the dollar-linked stablecoin, said in a statement to Blockworks that financial transaction data was not “impacted by the security incident.”&nbsp;



“We have communicated with the affected parties and will follow up with them on any material developments as we continue to monitor and investigate the incident,” a Circle spokesperson told Blockworks.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Sensitive personal information, like Social Security numbers or government-issued identification, were not accessed as this information is not stored on HubSpot.”</blockquote>



Pantera Capital said that its HubSpot account had been <a href="https://twitter.com/PanteraCapital/status/1362140521800622080?s=20&amp;t=vQKoYhpK4bHoFjtc9V2KjQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">compromised last month.</a> The crypto VC firm sent out an email on March 19, assuring clients that their funds were still secure. 



Events like the HubSpot hack are “impossible to avoid” but pale in comparison to “traditional companies,” Greg Gopman, chief marketing and business development officer of Web3 infrastructure company Ankr, told Blockworks.



“There’s a good chance that a traditional company would have lost its customers&#8217; funds in such a broad attack,” Gopman said. “But the blockchain is way more secure, and their treasuries weren’t even touched. Decentralized infrastructure protects data.”



The full extent of the HubSpot hack is still unclear, however, because the company hasn&#8217;t disclosed exactly how much data was leaked. The investigation is ongoing.



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