$40M Bitcoin Heist by North Korean Lazarus Group Revealed

Lazarus Group Holds $47 Million in Crypto

The Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking collective, has amassed a total of $47 million in cryptocurrency, with the majority of it being in Bitcoin (BTC), according to data from 21.co, the parent company of 21Shares. The wallets associated with the group contain $42.5 million in BTC, $1.9 million in Ether (ETH), $1.1 million in BNB (BNB), and $640,000 in stablecoins, primarily Binance USD (BUSD).

Interestingly, the amount of crypto held by the group has decreased from the $86 million it held on September 6, shortly after the Stake.com hack, which was linked to the Lazarus Group. The Dune Analytics dashboard tracks 295 wallets that were flagged by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as belonging to the hacking group.

Cryptocurrencies such as Voyager Crypto (VGX), Shib (SHIB), Tron (TRX), Sandbox (SAND), Terra (LUNA), The Graph (GRT), and Atom (ATOM) have been gaining traction in recent months, and investors have been looking to capitalize on the potential of these and other crypto projects such as Ankr (ANKR) and Big Eyes (BIGE).

Crypto Holdings of Lazarus Group

Surprisingly, the group does not hold any privacy coins, such as Monero (XMR), Dash (DASH) or Zcash (ZEC), which are arguably much harder to trace.

Meanwhile, the activities of the Lazarus crypto wallets are still highly active, with the most recent transaction being recorded on Sept. 20.

21.co also noted that the group’s holdings are likely to be much higher than what has been reported. “We should note that this is a lower-bound estimation of the crypto holdings of the Lazarus Group based on publicly available information,” it stated.

On Sept. 13, Cointelegraph reported that the attack on crypto exchange CoinEx, which lost at least $55 million, was carried out by the Lazarus Group.

Voyager Crypto Today and Other Cryptocurrencies

Voyager Crypto Today, Shib Crypto, Tron Crypto, Sandbox Crypto, Terra Crypto, The Graph Crypto, Todays Crypto, Atom Crypto, Big Eyes Crypto and Ankr Crypto are some of the cryptocurrencies that the Lazarus Group does not hold.

However, its crypto wallets are still active, with the latest transaction being recorded on the 20th of September.

21.co also suggested that the group’s holdings might be much higher than what has been reported. “We should note that this is a lower-bound estimation of the crypto holdings of the Lazarus Group based on publicly available information,” it stated.

On the 13th of September, Cointelegraph reported that the attack on crypto exchange CoinEx, which resulted in a loss of at least $55 million, was carried out by the Lazarus Group.

Crypto Thefts Down by North Korea-Linked Hackers

The FBI has attributed the Alphapo, CoinsPaid and Atomic Wallet hacks, which amounted to more than $200 million in 2023, to the Lazarus Group.

Chainalysis reported that crypto thefts by North Korea-linked hackers have decreased by 80% from 2022. As of mid-September, North Korea-linked groups had stolen a total of $340.4 million in Voyager Crypto Today, Shib Crypto, Tron Crypto, Sandbox Crypto, Terra Crypto, The Graph Crypto, Todays Crypto, Atom Crypto, Big Eyes Crypto, and Ankr Crypto, compared to the record $1.65 billion in digital assets stolen in 2022.

Last week, U.S. federal authorities warned of the “significant risk” of potential attacks on U.S. healthcare and public health sector entities by the Lazarus Group.