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The United States has seized $30 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen from the Ronin network by North Korean-related hackers.
In a recently published blog, Erin Plante, Senior Director of Investigations at Chainalysis sheds more light on the issue. He wrote that Chainalysis’ collaborations with law enforcement and leading crypto organizations have assisted law enforcement in obtaining more than $30 million in cryptocurrencies.
This is the cryptocurrency that was stolen from the Ronin Network by the North Korean-linked hacking group, Lazarus.
Lazarus’ attack on Ronin
The Ronin Network has made deals involving gaming company Axie Infinity. On March 29, 2022, Ronin announced in a blog post that the blockchain had stolen 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC. The total damage of this attack was $625 million.
The DeFi protocol says it is working directly with various government agencies to ensure that criminals are brought to justice. The assets are laundered and distributed across 12,000 different cryptocurrency addresses.
The company also identified Tornado Cash, a decentralized Cryptocurrency mixer as the main tool used by hackers to launder crypto assets. In August 2022, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash for money laundering worth more than $7 billion.
OFAC also highlighted that hackers used Tornado Cash in laundering more than $455 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen from Axie Infinity. There is also the involvement of the Lazarus Group, a hacking group backed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Moreover, in March, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a press release on the matter. The press release states that the cyber hacking groups, Lazarus Group and APT38 are linked to North Korea and are responsible for various thefts. Specifically, the Romin cyberattack cost more than $ 620 million. According to the FBI, these illegal activities generate revenue for North Korea.
The recovered amount is only a small fraction of the $600 million worth of crypto assets stolen by the hacker group. Law enforcement and investigators are trying to recover some of the leftover loot.
