"Among the 2 Trillion Won Cryptocurrency Taken by North Korea, 1.3 Trillion... Rapidly Laundered into Bitcoin"

Lazarus Group Hacks Bybit Cryptocurrency Exchange
US Media: "Converted $900 Million into Bitcoin"
Ben Zhou: "77% of Stolen Funds Still Traceable"

Last month, in connection with the hacking incident at the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, where cryptocurrencies worth $1.4 billion (approximately 2.037 trillion KRW) were stolen, reports have emerged that North Korean hackers are rapidly laundering the cryptocurrencies. On the 4th (local time), the U.S. Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that "North Korean hackers converted 361,000 Ethereum (ETH), worth about $900 million (approximately 1.3095 trillion KRW), into Bitcoin through a mixer company used for money laundering."

On the same day, Ben Zhou, CEO of Bybit, stated on his X (formerly Twitter), "77% of the stolen funds are still traceable, but 20% have disappeared, and 3% have been frozen." According to this, approximately $280 million (about 407.4 billion KRW) is considered difficult to recover.

The price of Ethereum is displayed on the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit. Photo by AP Yonhap News

Earlier, the North Korean hacking group 'Lazarus Group' attacked the global cryptocurrency exchange Bybit on the 21st of last month and stole Ethereum worth $1.4 billion. Lazarus is a hacking group that attacked Sony Pictures in 2014, the Bangladesh Central Bank in 2016, and WannaCry in 2017.

Following this hacking incident, CEO Zhou announced, "We have launched the first bounty site that fully transparently discloses Lazarus's money laundering activities," adding, "Users can connect their cryptocurrency wallets to the website to track stolen funds. We will track stolen funds through crowdsourcing."

Accordingly, Bybit immediately rewards 10% of the amount if stolen assets are frozen when those who provide information by tracking the hacked cryptocurrencies do so. Currently, 11 institutions have assisted in freezing funds, and 11 bounty hunters have reportedly been paid $2,178,700 (approximately 3.18 billion KRW).

According to RFA, North Korean hackers are likely to cash out the Bitcoin funds soon. Louis Gu, head of the Cloint Virtual Asset Tracking and Analysis Center, stated, "The North Korean hacker group, which has multiple Bitcoin wallet addresses, is highly likely to split the stolen funds into small amounts and cash them out through North Korean workers."