Cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Huobi have refrozen accounts related to the $100 million Harmony Horizon bridge attack on June 24, 2022, as reported by Cointelegraph.
According to Cointelegraph, nearly $1.4 million worth of frozen crypto have been linked with Lazarus Group based out of North Korea. It is believed that the investigation was undertaken by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. However, it wasn’t revealed what coins or tokens were frozen.
“The stolen funds remained dormant until recently, when our investigators began to see them funneled through complex chains of transactions, to exchanges. By promptly notifying these platforms about these illicit deposits, they were able to suspend these accounts and freeze funds,” Elliptic stated.
On the basis of information by Cointelegraph, since the Harmony exploit, Lazarus Group made use of United States OFAC-sanctioned privacy mixer Tornado Cash. It is believed that the step was taken to break the transaction trail back to the original theft. Reportedly, Elliptic investigators tracked the total amount of stolen funds sent through the mixer.
“Today, money laundering was detected and stolen funds linked to North Korea were frozen, in real time. As an industry we have the power and responsibility to prevent digital assets becoming a haven for money launderers and sanctions evaders, and ensure that they are a force for good,” Simone Maini, CEO, Elliptic, mentioned.
Moreover, Cointelegraph noted that Binance and Huobi were able to freeze and recover 121 Bitcoin, which carried a $2.5 million value during that time, related to the Harmony attack on January 16, 2023. Sources suggest that Lazarus Group stole more than two billion dollars in crypto since transitioning to the industry in 2017.
(With insights from Cointelegraph)