Are North Korean Hackers Turning To Russian Exchanges to Launder Crypto?

Hacks and exploits of crypto platforms are on the rise. A common name comes up over and over behind major hacks in the crypto space. That's North Korean hackers notorious Lazarus Group. After successfully hacking into any exchange, DeFi protocol, and wallet, they steal crypto assets. What happens to those stolen crypto assets later?

Chainalysis made its analysis and according to the report, North Korean hackers found some ways to use Russian exchange services to launder stolen crypto assets. They started using Russian exchange services in 2021. You might have heard of the Harmony Protocol hack. Hackers stole 21.9 million worth of crypto assets from the protocol.

Guess what? This stolen 21.9 million cryptocurrency has been transferred to a Russia-based exchange to process transactions, according to Chainanalysis data. It occurred recently although Chainanalysis did not mention the name of the exchange. Victims try to get back their stolen funds but criminal actors find some ways to get away with it.

You will be surprised to know that North Korean hacking groups, especially Lazarus Group have already stolen more than $340.4 million in 2023. Last year the value of stolen crypto was over $1.65 billion. This year is not over yet. The value of stolen crypto assets could be way more at the end of this year.

When criminal actors find a way to get services to launder stolen crypto assets, that's an alarming sign. It can become a threat to crypto when North Korea-backed Lazarus Group consistently exploits and hacks crypto platforms and launder stolen funds in some ways.

People use DeFi, centralized crypto exchanges, and different crypto platforms. But when they do not feel safe anymore, they will tend to avoid them. It will become harder to onboard new people in crypto. Some criminal actors commit crimes and that gives a bad name to crypto.

Crypto platforms have to improve their security. Once people lose trust in a platform, they will not come back again in the future. It can destroy everything the crypto platform has built so far. Hackers use sophisticated tactics to get into the system first. Sometimes they might sit there doing nothing.

According to their plan, they make their move and exploit the platform to the extreme level to get the most out of it. Sometimes it becomes difficult to recover from the damage and move forward. I am positive about the crypto ecosystem. It will become stronger and better which keep attracting more people all over the world.

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