North Korea’s Lazar group moves BTC after weeks of inactivity.
After weeks of inactivity, North Korean hacker group Lazarus moved more than $1 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) on January 8.
According to blockchain analysts Arkham Intelligence, Lazarus' team transferred 27.371 BTC, worth $1.2 million at current prices, in two transfers that the analysts took to the cryptocurrency mix. Lazar's team had previously sent 3.343 BTC worth $150,582 to an inactive address.
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The Lazarus team made their biggest transaction in over a month, withdrawing $1M in BTC this morning from what appears to be a mixing service and then sending $150K to an inactive address they had previously sent to.
Watch Lazarus on Arkham: pic.twitter.com/quYYF3h7Dj
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) January 8, 2024
Arkham showed $79 million in Alazarus Group's portfolio after the transactions. While it is impossible to speculate on the criminal group's motives, the transfers may indicate preparations for further activity.
Related: US Deputy Treasury Secretary Calls for More Tools to Ban Crypto Firms
The Lazarus group is said to be sponsored by the North Korean government. In the year It is responsible for a third of all hacking by 2023, pulling in as much as $700 million that year. The group is said to have used new techniques, such as fake job offers, to target and impersonate known capitalists.
Lazar Group Between 2017 and 2023, around $3 billion was reportedly stolen. This includes the massive Ronin Bridge hack in March 2022, where more than $600 million worth of Ether (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC) were taken from the pay-to-play game Axie Infinity, developed by Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis. It was the biggest hack in crypto history.
The Lazarus Group's activity triggered a series of actions by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which sanctioned the first crypto mixer — Blender.io — for the Ronin Bridge event. Since then, OFAC has sanctioned Tornado Cash, as well as individuals associated with the Lazar Group.
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