by Nayab Fatima
According to Lookonchain’s analysis the Ethereum thief washed 605 million US dollars or 54% of the stolen 1.4 billion dollars from the Bybit hack within seven days. No matter tracking efforts from on-chain investigators the funds remain active in different blockchain platforms.
“So far, the #Bybit hacker has laundered 270K $ETH($605M, 54% of the stolen funds) and still holds 229,395 $ETH($514M).”
Experts now recognize North Korea’s Lazarus Group as the organization responsible for stealing from Bybit. Blockchain tracking companies at Arkham Intelligence have traced the attack back to the state-backed cybercrime group Lazarus Group.
Users sent the stolen money through THORChain to switch it between different blockchain networks without central control. Following the Bybit theft THORChain recorded more than one billion dollars in swap volume which made experts question its use for criminal transactions.
Developer Resigns Over Controversy
Stolen funds from the attack started attracting attention when people noticed their movement through THORChain. Industry analysts claim the platform’s privacy tools help North Korean hackers hide criminal money transactions. An upcoming security action failed after governance participants chose to keep transactions linking to North Korea active.
The core team lost a leader when one of their key developers Pluto decided to resign. Pluto made an official exit message on X software on February 27. Effective today I stop working for THORChain but will help organize a smooth transfer of duties. The leadership problems produced more employees who threatened to quit.
TCB the validator threatened to depart because they wanted the protocol to stop North Korean-linked Ether transactions passing through their network. The FBI advises financial companies to reject transactions connected to Lazarus Group following the discovery that North Korea operates this group.
The FBI’s initiative motivates crypto platforms to upgrade their systems to battle cybercriminals backed by governments. THORChain founder John-Paul Thorbjornsen replied through his comment that he remains unconcerned with the day-to-day operations of the protocol. He stated
“The actor is simply moving funds faster than any screening service can catch. It is unrealistic to expect these blockchains to censor, including THORChain,” he added.
#blockchain #crypto, #decentralized, #distributed, #ledger
This news is republished from another source. You can check the original article here
