Lazarus Group Hackers Were Blocked $5 Million in Illicit Fund

Key Points:

• Lazarus Group hackers lost access to nearly $5 million in stablecoins after an investigation led by ZachXBT prompted issuers like Tether and Circle to freeze their funds.
• The group laundered over $200 million in crypto through 25 exploits over three years.

An investigation led by blockchain analyst ZachXBT has pointed to Lazarus Group hackers losing access to almost $5 million in stablecoins.

Read more: North Korean Lazarus Group Targets Crypto Scam Through Fake LinkedIn Accounts

Lazarus Group Hackers Lose Access to $5 Million Worth of Stable Coins Due to Investigation

Several of them have traced the funds down to two wallets linked to this North Korean-backed group and have frozen the funds. The group was frozen out of accessing these illicit funds by Tether USDT, Circle USDC, Techteryx TUSD, and Paxos BUSD, all against two wallets.

The investigation by ZachXBT was aided in finding out that for more than three years, Lazarus Group hackers had laundered over $200 million into fiat currency in cryptocurrency, with teams from Metamask, Binance, TRM Labs, and Five I’s LLC. These were funds stolen in 25 different exploits across blockchains. According to reports, the hackers are using peer-to-peer marketplaces in converting stolen crypto to cash.

While almost $5 million of the stablecoins were frozen, the wallets still have an additional $720,000 in the DAI stablecoin and $313,000 in Ethereum that haven’t been frozen. ZachXBT publicly shamed USDC’s issuer, Circle, for being slower than the other stablecoin providers in freezing the funds.

“You took 4.5 months longer than every other major issuer to blacklist Lazarus Group funds,” ZachXBT wrote on X.

How Lazarus Group Hides Their Tracks

Lazarus Group hackers have participated in high-profile cybercrimes, making them no less feared in the cryptocurrency community than in the global financial system as a whole. They pulled heists amounting to more than $200 million in cryptocurrency. According to Chainalysis, Lazarus Group accounted for more than 60% of stolen funds in the crypto market between 2017 and 2020.

Most of the laundering methods used by this group include many asset movements through wallets and networks before reaching mixes like Tornado Cash and ChipMixer for obscuring origins.