Elliptic, Binance and Huobi Team to Seize Lazarus Group Hack Proceeds

Elliptic, Binance and Huobi Team to Seize Lazarus Group Hack Proceeds

According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, crypto exchanges Binance and Huobi have frozen cryptocurrencies worth approximately USD 1.4 million linked to North Korea. The firm has revealed that the stolen funds, which were dormant until recently, originated from the June 2022 hack of Harmony’s Horizon Bridge.

North Korea-Linked Crypto Frozen by Binance and Huobi

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said on Tuesday that it has collaborated with cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Huobi "to freeze Lazarus Group hack proceeds." Elliptic wrote:

"Crypto exchanges Binance and Huobi today froze accounts containing approximately USD 1.4 million in crypto assets originating from the June 2022 hack of Harmony’s Horizon Bridge."

"The Horizon cross-chain bridge was attacked on June 24th, 2022, resulting in the loss of USD 99.6 million in crypto assets. The funds were then laundered through the now-sanctioned Tornado Cash," explained the blockchain analytics firm. Ethereum mixer Tornado Cash was banned last August by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC).

The Horizon Bridge hacker sent over 98% of the USD 100 million in stolen crypto assets into the Tornado Cash mixer, Elliptic said in June last year. The stolen crypto assets included ether (ETH), tether (USDT), wrapped bitcoin (WBTC), and Binance coin (BNB), the firm revealed, adding that the hacker immediately used Uniswap to convert the Ethereum-based assets into 85,837 ETH. 

Investigators Trace Funds' Complete Trail

Elliptic investigators traced the funds’ complete trail through the mixer and attributed the hack to the Lazarus Group, a North Korea-controlled cybercrime organization. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) later confirmed Lazarus Group’s involvement in the hack. Elliptic added:

"The stolen funds remained dormant until recently when our investigators began to see them funneled through complex chains of transactions to exchanges."

Elliptic CEO Simone Maini commented:

"Today, money laundering was detected, and stolen funds linked to North Korea have been frozen in real-time."

"As an industry, we have the power and responsibility to prevent digital assets from becoming havens for money launderers and sanction evaders and ensure that they are a force for good," the CEO added.

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