Garden, a young Bitcoin bridging application, recently celebrated a major milestone by processing over $2 billion in token swaps, as announced by its founder Jaz Gurati. However, this achievement was quickly overshadowed by serious accusations from prominent crypto investigators.
ZachXBT, a well-known sleuth, alleged that Garden is facilitating large-scale money laundering, claiming that over 25% of its total volume comes from stolen funds. He accused the platform of making millions in profits from these activities and refusing to return funds or address the issue. ZachXBT differentiated Garden from more decentralized services like Tornado Cash or THORChain, pointing to its centralized nature and recent increase in swap limits to 10 BTC as factors attracting illicit actors seeking to launder over $1 million per transaction.
Further escalating the controversy, investigator Tayvano backed these concerns and alleged that hackers linked to North Korea (DPRK) are using Garden for money laundering operations. She claimed the company is certainly aware of DPRK-related discrepancies and accused Garden of not taking security or compliance seriously, though specific proof was not provided. This led to public disputes with Gurati, highlighting tensions within the community.
The allegations raise broader issues about the effectiveness of community watchdogs, as reduced crypto enforcement in the U.S. and slow international agency responses may limit real repercussions. ZachXBT expressed hope for government intervention, but if Garden continues to profit from illicit activities, community pressure might be insufficient to force change.
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