Singapore jails Chinese national over $6.9M SafeX crypto heist
A Singapore court has sentenced 38-year-old Chinese national Zhang Xinghua to two years’ imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misuse a computer system and dealing with benefits of criminal conduct in connection with a major crypto exchange theft.
What happened
- Prosecutors say Zhang was part of a three-man plot that siphoned roughly $6.9 million (S$8.8 million) in cryptocurrency from exchange SafeX. The scheme allegedly followed a breakdown in business relations between the contractor the men worked for, King Coder, and SafeX’s parent company, DTL.
- One alleged co-conspirator, named in court as Chen Chong Xin, remains at large. Authorities say Chen accessed SafeX’s crypto vaults without authorization on three occasions between June and August 2025 and moved more than $6.9 million to multiple wallets.
- Zhang then took a role in laundering part of the proceeds. Court documents state he routed over $1.6 million through Tornado Cash across two transactions in July and August 2025. Prosecutors said Zhang would have received more than $886,000 in crypto had police not intervened.
Investigation, arrests and recoveries
- SafeX reportedly flagged a low-balance alarm in August 2025, prompting internal checks and a police report. Zhang was arrested days later.
- Singapore authorities say they have seized or frozen about $2.1 million in crypto tied to the case. Prosecutors added that approximately $4.8 million remains out of reach, held in private wallets and in wallets maintained by virtual asset service providers (VASPs) outside Singapore’s jurisdiction.
- Court filings also note that Zhang made restitution of about $95,000 in Bitcoin via his wife after some stolen funds were received through her Binance account. One alleged accomplice’s case is still pending.
Broader implications: mixers and policy debate
- The case spotlights continuing controversy over coin mixers such as Tornado Cash, which are used to obfuscate transaction trails. Tornado Cash’s founder, Roman Storm, was found guilty last year of operating an unlicensed money transmitter. Federal prosecutors recently requested a retrial on more serious money‑laundering and sanctions‑evasion charges after a jury deadlocked at his previous trial.
- Tornado Cash sits at the center of mixed policy signals: in March 2025 the U.S. Treasury lifted sanctions on the platform, yet a recent Treasury report acknowledged that mixers can have legitimate uses for financial privacy even as regulators and prosecutors emphasize their illicit-activity risks.
Why it matters
- The SafeX theft underlines persistent operational and insider-risk vulnerabilities at crypto firms, the cross-border challenges of asset recovery, and the complex legal and regulatory debate around privacy tools like mixers. As law enforcement pursues actors and courts hand down penalties, recoveries remain partial and jurisdictional limits continue to hamper full restitution to victims.
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