Garden Finance Linked to Lazarus Hack, Crypto Scam Claims

Crypto Scam Alert: Garden Finance Faces Serious Laundering Allegations

ZachXBT, a DeFi researcher, publicly accused Bitcoin bridge Garden Finance of crypto money laundering. In a June 21, 2025, X (formerly Twitter) post, ZachXBT asserted that more than 80% of Garden's recent fee income was from transferring stolen funds in North Korea's Lazarus Group $1.4 billion Bybit crypto hack.

Source: tradingview.com 

As context, Lazarus is accused of the Feb. 21, 2025, Bybit hack that drained 401,347 ETH (~$1.4B) via simulated approvals

ZachXBT posted that Garden was utilized to wash those hack profits, saying, "You conveniently left out >80% of your fees came from Chinese launderers moving Lazarus Group funds from the Bybit hack."

Main points: 

• ZachXBT claims Garden's fees were mostly derived from hacked Lazarus funds.

• Their Co-founder Jaz Gulati had tweeted about 38.86 BTC (≈$300k) worth for over 12 days (≈$4M total)

• Gulati responded that 30 BTC were made before the hack, labeling Zach's assertions "misinformation" and dispelling any "fake decentralized" tag.

• Garden's Dune Analytics reports that the platform has exchanged 24,984 crypto coins ($1.5B) in 40,571 swaps and earned 40.11 crypto coins in total.

• ZachXBT further indicated a single party adding cbBTC liquidity (Coinbase-wrapped crypto coins), topping up, with concern over the trustless model.

ZachXBT's Accusations:

Blockchain detective ZachXBT specializes in following criminal flows. He contended that Garden Finance, described as the "fastest Bitcoin bridge," was taking money from Lazarus hackers via Chinese-operated mixers

• . His argument was based on new figures: Garden documented some 38.86 BTC in fees (~$300,000) earned during 12 days, with around $4 million in fees reportedly gathered to date.

• To this, ZachXBT pointed to on-chain tracks. He quoted ">80% of [Garden's] fees" originating from Lazarus hack ETH through cbBTC (Coinbase Bitcoin) transactions.

• He even joked, "Who are you building for again?" to challenge whose interests the project was serving. 

• Screenshot of tweet by Garden Finance co-founder Jaz Gulati (top) reporting fees earned, and blockchain sleuth ZachXBT's response (bottom) accusing the bridge of being involved in laundering Lazarus hack funds. ZachXBT's tweet suggested a central entity—perhaps Chinese-based operators—was "fueling illicit flows" by constantly adding liquidity from Coinbase's wrapped BTC.

• He inquired on X, "Explain how it is 'decentralized' when I watched in real time… as a single entity kept topping up cbBTC liquidity from Coinbase"

• That criticism gets directly to the problem: if a single participant provides most of the bridge's liquidity, then the "trustless" system can, in reality, be very centralized.

Garden Finance's Response

His Finance co-founder Jaz Gulati has denied any impropriety in strong terms. He referenced internal data indicating that 30 BTC in fees had been accrued before the Lazarus hack took place.

• Gulati labeled the laundering claims "misinformation" and denied suggestions that Garden is "fake decentralized."

• He even took a screenshot (over Discord) of approximately 30 BTC fees that were earned by October 2024, long before the Bybit incident. Garden Finance's Dune Analytics dashboard: the protocol has seen 24,984 crypto coins ($1.5B) swaps with 40.11 crypto coins worth of fees to date

• At the same time, independent analysis supports some of Garden's assertions. The Dune Analytics dashboard for his Finance reveals approximately 24,984 BTC in total swap volume (approximately $1.5 billion) in 40,571 transactions, with 40.11 crypto coins paid out in fees to date

• The single largest swap was 10 crypto coins, and the protocol prioritizes quick, zero-custody transfers. These figures indicate high utilization of the bridge but do not individually establish laundering.

Decentralization and Compliance Concerns

Beyond the numbers, this dispute highlights broader questions of decentralization and compliance. Garden Finance brands itself as a trustless, decentralized bridge, but ZachXBT’s observations suggest a possible central point of control. 

If one entity is indeed providing most of the liquidity, critics say the protocol might function more like a private exchange. Garden's co-founder claims the system lacks any one point of custody, but has not publicly explained how it maintains decentralization in practice.

 Investors and regulators are paying attention. Lazarus-linked hacks, such as Bybit (and last year's WazirX $230M hack), have often laundered stolen crypto through DeFi platforms and mixers.

• ZachXBT's report came during an environment of increasing oversight: analysts caution that any platform utilized for money laundering could come under scrutiny.

• Whether Garden Finance willingly facilitated criminal transfers or happened to be an unwitting conduit is disputed. What is certain is that blockchain bridges are in the limelight: their design must reconcile speed with anti-money-laundering protection in the eyes of users and regulators alike.