N.Korea’s Lazarus Group launders $900mn in crypto: Report

According to the blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, cross-chain services are fast becoming the preferred money laundering method for a range of cybercrimes, including scams and crypto thefts.

New Delhi: Over $7 billion in cryptocurrency has been illicitly laundered through cross-chain crime, with North Korea’s Lazarus Group being linked to the theft of around $900 million between July 2022 and July of this year, a new report has shown.

According to the blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, cross-chain services are fast becoming the preferred money laundering method for a range of cybercrimes, including scams and crypto thefts.

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Cross-chain crime refers to the swapping of crypto assets between different tokens or blockchains — often in rapid succession and with no legitimate business purpose — to obfuscate their criminal origin.

Moreover, the report found that decentralised exchanges (DEXs), cross-chain bridges and coin swap services have processed $7 billion of illicit funds.

“In relation to our previous estimate of $4.1 billion in October 2022, this includes (a) new cross-chain crime occurring since then and (b) any cross-chain crime we have since identified that has taken place before then,” the researchers said.

Since June 2023, the North Korean hacking team is believed to have stolen nearly $240 million in cryptocurrency through a series of attacks targeting Atomic Wallet ($100 million), CoinsPaid ($37.3 million), Alphapo ($60 million), Stake.com ($41 million), and CoinEx ($31 million).

Last month, a report showed that the Lazarus Group holds over$47 million in cryptocurrency, with most of it in Bitcoin (BTC).

According to the data collected by 21.co subsidiary Dune Analytics, the notorious hacking group’s wallets contain about $42.5 million in BTC, $1.9 million in Ether (ETH), $1.1 million in Binance Coin (BNB), and an additional $640,000 in stablecoins, with Binance USD (BUSD) dominant.