North Korean Hackers May Be Responsible for Cyber Attack on Japanese Crypto Exchange That Led to Loss of Millions: On-Chain Sleuth

Pseudonymous blockchain investigator ZachXBT tells his 610,500 followers on the social media platform Twitter that cybercriminals have laundered over $35 million of the $305 million stolen from DMM Bitcoin on the Asia-based online marketplace Huione Guarantee.

A Japanese crypto exchange was hit by a cyber attack in May, resulting in the theft of Bitcoin (BTC) reportedly valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Now, an on-chain sleuth claims that the North Korean hacking outfit, Lazarus Group, might be behind the attack.

Pseudonymous blockchain investigator ZachXBT tells his 610,500 followers on the social media platform X that cybercriminals have laundered over $35 million of the $305 million stolen from DMM Bitcoin on the Asia-based online marketplace Huione Guarantee.

“It is suspected that Lazarus Group is behind the hack due to similarities in laundering techniques and off-chain indicators.”

According to ZachXBT, stablecoin-issuer Tether recently blacklisted a wallet linked to Huione Guarantee that was holding $29.6 million in USDT on the Tron (TRX) blockchain. The blockchain sleuth says that over a three-day period, the wallet had received $14 million linked to the hacking of the DMM Bitcoin crypto exchange.

On the laundering process of the funds from the DMM Bitcoin hack, ZachXBT says,

“The laundering path for funds transferred to Huione from the DMM Bitcoin hack can be summarized as:

1) Deposit BTC to mixer from the hack.

2) Withdraw BTC from mixer.

3) Bridge funds from Bitcoin to Ethereum or Avalanche via THORChain, Threshold, Avalanche bridge.

4) Swap for USDT and bridge to Tron via SWFT.

5) Transfer USDT to Huione.”

The blockchain sleuth further says that Huione Guarantee, which is owned by a conglomerate tied to Cambodia’s ruling Hun family, is being used by criminals in the Southeast Asian region to launder illicit funds.

“A recent report by the blockchain analytics firm Elliptic revealed that merchants on the platform have done an estimated $11 billion+ in volume and they alleged that Huione Group has ties with the Cambodian government.”

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