U.S. Government accuses North Korea of Stealing Ethereum
The Federal Bureau of Investigation claims that hackers with ties to North Korea committed one of the biggest cryptocurrency thefts in history, stealing about $1.46 billion worth of Ethereum from Bybit.
A group of hackers known to the US government as TraderTraitor and the Lazarus Group were involved in another theft earlier this month that targeted Bybit, one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges.
According to the FBI, the hackers steal cryptocurrency “by disseminating cryptocurrency trading applications that were altered to contain malware that facilitates cryptocurrency theft.”.
The FBI in an online public service announcement believed hackers with North Korean support were “in charge of the theft.”.
The FBI stated, “TraderTraitor actors are moving quickly and have converted some of the stolen assets to bitcoin and other virtual assets scattered across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains.” The enforcement agency projected that further laundering will eventually convert these assets into fiat money.
North Korean state media have not verified the theft or the FBI’s allegation. South Korea’s spy agency estimates that over the last five years, North Korea has stolen over $1 billion worth of crypto assets.
In the face of severe UN sanctions and North Korea’s stringent border closures during the coronavirus pandemic, it represents a unique source of desperately needed foreign currency to support its fragile economy and finance its nuclear program.
Separately, a panel of UN experts stated that it was looking into 58 alleged cyberattacks by North Korea from 2017 to 2023, in which approximately US$3 billion was taken and “allegedly used to finance the country’s development of weapons of mass destruction.”.
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