An investigative report by crypto sleuth ZachXBT revealed that the North Korean Lazarus Group laundered over $200 million worth of stolen cryptocurrency between August 2020 and October 2023. The group allegedly obtained these illicit funds through more than 25 crypto hacks, totaling over $3 billion in stolen crypto assets over the six years leading up to 2023. The stolen digital assets were laundered using a combination of crypto mixing services and peer-to-peer marketplaces, with at least $44 million of stolen cryptocurrency being laundered through specific marketplaces utilizing usernames consistent with the movement of stolen funds. The hacked funds were converted into USDT stablecoin before being exchanged for fiat currencies.
In November 2023, Tether blacklisted over $374,000 worth of stolen funds associated with the Lazarus Group, and three out of four stablecoin issuers reportedly blacklisted an additional $3.4 million sitting in a cluster of addresses linked to Lazarus. According to data from the United Nations Security Council and DeFiLlama, North Korea was implicated in approximately $2.4 billion worth of crypto heists since 2020, with $1.69 billion attributed to thefts resulting from compromised private keys. This represents more than 70% of the cryptocurrency lost to North Korea-linked hacks since 2020, with a significant portion resulting from exploits involving compromised private keys.
The UNSC documented investigations into 58 crypto heists with suspected North Korean involvement dating back to 2017, with hacks amounting to approximately $3 billion, including $700 million in 2023 alone. Chainalysis reported a higher figure, estimating that North Korea-linked hacks accounted for $1 billion of the $1.7 billion total stolen in 2020. Despite increased activity by North Korean hackers in 2023, they stole $700 million less than the preceding year. Approximately $1.7 billion worth of funds were stolen from the cryptocurrency space across 231 hacks, indicating a decline in the overall amount of crypto hacked from protocols in 2023 compared to previous years, potentially due to project security improvements or market conditions.
The decrease in losses could signify improvements in project security or market conditions influencing the amount of crypto hacked from protocols, dropping to $1.53 billion in 2023 from $3.28 billion in 2022. This contrasts with 2021’s figure of $2.34 billion. Despite this decline, experts caution that hacking volume may surge again with favorable market conditions and the continued growth of the decentralized finance sector. The Lazarus Group’s activities highlight the ongoing challenges of cybersecurity and the need for increased vigilance in protecting digital assets from malicious actors seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in the crypto ecosystem.
