The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv partially satisfied the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office and seized cryptocurrency assets belonging to members of a transnational hacker group.
The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv partially satisfied the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office and seized cryptocurrency assets belonging to members of a transnational hacker group.
The attackers, who recently rebranded and called themselves «Digital 8», are suspected of stealing at least $100 million from citizens of different countries around the world. dev.ua learned this from a relevant court ruling dated May 11, 2026.
According to the case materials, the cyber organization began to form no later than December 2019. The accomplices developed and operated known malicious software such as «IcedID.» With the help of this malware, they carried out unauthorized interference in the computer networks of global financial institutions, stole personal data, and emptied the accounts of foreigners.
Due to the large-scale losses, the FBI and the US Federal Prosecutor’s Office became interested in the hackers' activities, and they launched their own criminal prosecution.
However, Ukrainian law enforcement officers from the State Bureau of Investigation established that no later than January 2025, the defendants decided to scale up the «business.» They:
The group’s structure and fraud methods have changed.
Malicious software has been improved.
They created a clear subordination and gave the organization a new name — «Digital 8.»
The total amount stolen through the upgraded schemes reached over $100,000,000.
The investigation traced the money laundering chain. The organizers of the scheme actively used crypto wallets for conspiracy, constantly transferring assets through third parties.
In early April 2026, 2.9 million USDT «fell» into one of the newly created wallets. Analytical services instantly highlighted this wallet: the risk score was 100%, and the transactions were assigned the «Stolen Coins» marker.
The Ukrainian court promptly blocked these assets from the issuer, Tether Operations Limited. However, the hackers managed to «bite off» part of the amount and transfer it via mixers and other platforms to the crypto exchange FixedFloat (a legal entity of FFX Group Ltd, registered in the offshore Republic of the Marshall Islands).
The judge recognized the virtual assets as tangible evidence and imposed an arrest with a prohibition on alienation and use on the following amounts stored in FixedFloat wallets:
201,000 USDT (distributed across three wallets);
1.4 BTC (Bitcoin).
Nuance: Prosecutors also asked the court to order the offshore company FFX Group Ltd to directly block access to these addresses. However, the judge refused in this regard, noting that such requirements «go beyond the legal regulation» of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.
Currently, the Main Investigation Department of the State Bureau of Investigation continues pre-trial investigation under a whole bunch of articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: from unauthorized interference with the operation of a computer (Article 361) and fraud (Article 190) to money laundering in especially large amounts (Article 209) and creation of a criminal organization (Article 255). The defendants face serious prison terms and complete confiscation of property.
