Crypto Worth $1.4M Linked to North Korean Hackers Frozen by Binance and Huobi

An investigation by Elliptic, a blockchain analytics company, found that the stolen funds were dormant until recently when they were noticed being channelled to exchanges through complex transactions. Elliptic alerted Binance and Huobi about these unauthorized deposits, and the exchanges swiftly suspended these accounts and froze the funds.

Earlier, we reported that the Lazarus Group was transferring large amounts of Ethereum, which they had obtained through the Harmony Bridge hack, using the privacy mixer Tornado Cash and smart contract Railgun to conceal the trail of the stolen funds. This was done to make cash out the assets easier at an exchange and difficult to trace.

However, the report indicated that Elliptic investigators were able to trace the whole of the stolen funds that were transferred through the mixer. Elliptic CEO Simone Maini said, “Today, we detected money laundering and frozen stolen funds linked to North Korea in real time.”

According to Maini, they are responsible for ensuring that digital assets are not used as a sanctuary for money launderers and sanction evaders but rather as a force for good.

Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reportedly placed seven firms and four North Korean individuals on a “blacklist” for their alleged involvement in cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft. One of the few individuals on the blacklist is Park Jin-hyok, an information technology specialist for the Chosun Expo Joint Venture, a North Korean front for the Lazarus Group.

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