How North Korea has funded its regime with $3.4 billion in crypto
North Korea’s state-sponsored hacking entity, Lazarus Group, has been tied to a series of recent crypto hacks resulting in nearly $100 million of stolen crypto, bringing its total since 2007 to more than $3.4 billion, according to blockchain analysis.
In recent days, Lazarus Group has been linked to high-profile attacks on both Stake, a crypto casino that lost $41 million, and CoinEx, a crypto exchange that lost $54 million. When added to ill-gotten crypto funds in heists going back more than a decade, North Korea has acquired billions of dollars in crypto, funds which could enable leader Kim Jong Un to support weapons programs and other initiatives that have pushed the country under international sanctions for decades.
“The Lazarus Group of North Korean hackers allegedly stole over $3.4 billion cryptocurrencies in a series of heists dating back to 2007,” Yahoo! Finance reported. “Among these are the $100 million Harmony’s Horizon bridge hack in 2022, the $35 million Atomic Wallet hack this year, the recent $54 million CoinEx exchange hack, the $41 million heist from crypto casino Stake and more.”
Detailing the most recently-alleged hack, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic identified Lazarus Group and noted that the organization is getting bolder and increasing its crypto focus.
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“The elite North Korean hacking group Lazarus appears to have recently ramped up its operations, conducting a confirmed four attacks against crypto entities since June 3rd,” Elliptic wrote. “Now, they are suspected of carrying out a fifth attack, this time targeting CoinEx on September 12… (T)he total value of stolen funds is not yet known, however it is currently believed to be around $54 million.”
Following the announcement of a “security incident” on its X (formerly Twitter) account last week, CoinEx publicly identified a handful of suspicious wallets that it said were linked to the attack, which apparently involved a range of cryptocurrencies, including ethereum, bitcoin, tron, solana and more.
Cryptocurrencies offer an attractive financing alternative for North Korea, as they are largely free of the third parties and regulations that govern more traditional financial assets. And while blockchain technology offers an immutable record of transitions, which can be audited to trace the activity of Lazarus Group, there is typically no way to recover funds once they have been issued to a wallet controlled by an adversary.
Read more about how cyber warfare is developing in the Web3 space.
