New data shows that North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group holds a whopping $47 million in cryptocurrency assets, the majority of which is in Bitcoin. According to the data, wallets associated with Lazarus Group currently hold approximately $47 million in digital assets, including $42.5 million in Bitcoin, $1.9 million in Ether, $1.1 million in Binance Coin (BNB) and an additional $10 million in stablecoins. $640,000, mainly BUSD.
However, days after the Stake.com hack in which Lazarus was implicated, the amount of crypto held by the group has dropped to $86 million on September 6. Survey U.S. Tracks 295 wallets identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as owned by the hacking group.Surprisingly, the group does not own any privacy coins like Monero (XMR), Dash or Zcash (ZEC), which are arguably very difficult to trace. Meanwhile, Lazarus crypto wallets are still highly active and the most recent transaction was recorded on September 20. The survey also said the group's stake was likely much higher than reported.
The Lazarus group attacked crypto exchange CoinEx, causing at least $55 million in losses. Additionally, the FBI has also pointed the finger at Lazarus for the Alphapo, CoinsPaid, and Atomic Wallet hacks, which collectively amount to more than $200 million that the group stole in 2023. However, Chainalysis reported that crypto theft by hackers linked to North Korea has decreased by a massive 80% compared to 2022. As of mid-September, groups linked to North Korea had stolen a total of $340.4 million in crypto, which is $1.65 billion less than the record for theft of digital assets in 2022. Late last week, United States federal authorities warned of a significant risk of potential attacks on US healthcare and public health institutions by Lazarus Group.
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