North Korea’s infamous Lazarus Group has continued its laundering operations, transferring another 62,200 Ether—valued at $138 million—on March 1 from the massive Bybit hack that occurred on February 21. This leaves only 156,500 ETH still to be moved, according to a well-known crypto analyst.
Out of the 499,000 ETH stolen in the $1.4 billion attack, around 343,000 ETH has now been laundered, as reported by blockchain investigator EmberCN. The analyst predicts that the remaining funds could be funneled out within the next three days.
The movement of these assets means that 68.7% of the stolen funds have now been processed, up from 54% on February 28. Previously, laundering activities appeared to have slowed, likely due to warnings issued by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI urged crypto exchanges, node operators, and bridge services to prevent transactions linked to the Bybit exploit.
Authorities have identified 51 Ethereum addresses associated with the hackers, while blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has flagged more than 11,000 additional wallet addresses that may be linked to them.
According to blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis, portions of the stolen ETH have already been converted into Bitcoin, the Dai stablecoin, and other digital assets using decentralized exchanges, cross-chain bridges, and instant swap services that bypass traditional Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols.
One such service, THORChain, has come under fire for facilitating a significant share of the illicit transfers. A developer known as “Pluto” announced they would no longer contribute to the project after a vote to block transactions linked to North Korean hackers was overturned.
THORChain’s founder, John-Paul Thorbjornsen, distanced himself from the controversy, stating he is no longer involved with the project. He also noted that none of the wallet addresses sanctioned by the FBI or the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) have directly interacted with THORChain.
The Bybit exploit stands as the largest hack in crypto history, surpassing even the infamous $650 million Ronin Bridge hack from March 2022 by more than double.
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