- Six addresses hold 1,580 Bitcoin (BTC) stolen by the North Korean-backed hacker group Lazarus.
- The FBI said the assets originated from attacks on crypto entities like Alphapo, CoinsPaid, and Atomic Wallet.
- Authorities previously attributed major hacks on DeFi bridges Harmony and Ronin to Lazarus.
- The FBI warned that the TraderTraitor-affiliated actors Lazarus and APT38 could liquidate their BTC for $40 million at current market prices.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alerted crypto companies of $41 million in stolen Bitcoin (BTC) controlled by North Korean “TraderTraitor-affiliated actors” known as Lazarus and APT38.
According to the FBI’s statement on Tuesday, Lazarus could move to cash in on 1,580 BTC heisted from several crypto service providers in 2023. The FBI attributed hacks on Alphapo, Atomic Wallet, and CoinsPaid to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) funded hacker organizations.
Thefts from Alphapo, Atomic Wallet, and CoinsPaid resulted in losses worth nearly $200 million in total, per on-chain analysts and the FBI.
FBI investigators warned crypto companies to stay clear of the stolen cryptocurrencies tracked to six Bitcoin addresses –
- 3LU8wRu4ZnXP4UM8Yo6kkTiGHM9BubgyiG
- 39idqitN9tYNmq3wYanwg3MitFB5TZCjWu
- 3AAUBbKJorvNhEUFhKnep9YTwmZECxE4Nk
- 3PjNaSeP8GzLjGeu51JR19Q2Lu8W2Te9oc
- 3NbdrezMzAVVfXv5MTQJn4hWqKhYCTCJoB
- 34VXKa5upLWVYMXmgid6bFM4BaQXHxSUoL
Lazarus Drained $2 Billion From Crypto
DPRK’s Lazarus remains a stalwart exploiter of the nascent crypto industry with an estimated $2 billion stolen by the illicit organization, per an Elliptic report. Indeed, several attack vectors like social engineering, DDos, and phishing scams have been employed by the cybercriminal group against DeFi protocols and crypto entities.
DeFi analysts and the FBI concur that Lazarus was responsible for the $650 million hack on Sky Mavis’ Ronin Bridge. The incident remains one of the largest hacks in crypto history.
Suspected North Korean hackers also stole $100 million from Harmony’s Horizon Bridge and another $100 million from Atomic Wallet, a crypto wallet provider.
“The FBI will continue to expose and combat the DPRK’s use of illicit activities—including cybercrime and virtual currency theft—to generate revenue for the regime.” said federal investigators from the FBI on Tuesday.
