Lazarus Group Strikes Again, Successfully Laundering Over $13 Million through Tornado Cash
In a plot that could be straight out of a suspenseful thriller, the infamous Lazarus Group, known for its ties to North Korean authorities, has reemerged in the cryptocurrency world. They have executed a bold move by laundering $13 million through Tornado Cash. Over a span of just two days in March 2024, they managed to funnel more than $13 million in ETH from the HTX/HECO thefts through Tornado Cash in more than 40 transactions.
Leading blockchain analytics company, Elliptic, along with a team of experts, have attributed the HECO heist to the Lazarus Group. This incident marks one of the biggest blows to the cryptocurrency market since $100 million disappeared from the HTX (formerly known as Huobi) exchange and its HECO cross-chain bridge in November 2023.
According to the Chainalysis Crypto Crime Report of 2023, Sinbad became the preferred choice for North Korea-affiliated hackers in 2022 after Tornado Cash faced sanctions in August of the same year. However, with Sinbad being shut down by regulatory efforts in November 2023, the Lazarus Group turned to YoMix as an alternative. Now, with the Lazarus Group returning to Tornado Cash, they are using a familiar tactic of evading sanctions and law enforcement by quickly laundering their stolen tokens through decentralized exchanges.
Despite being sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in August 2022 for laundering funds for the Lazarus Group, Tornado Cash continues to operate. Its decentralized technology shields it from being shut down, unlike centralized mixers such as Sinbad.io.
The Lazarus Group, believed to operate from North Korea, has gained notoriety for its large-scale cryptocurrency heists. In 2023 alone, they managed to steal over $500 million in cryptocurrencies. Their targets included Atomic Wallet ($115 million), Alphapo ($70 million), Coins Paid ($37.3 million), Coinex ($54 million), Stake.com ($41 million), HTX-HECO bridge ($100 million), and Poloniex ($125 million). This amounted to over half a billion dollars in just 172 days.
U.S. law enforcement remains determined to expose and prosecute criminals who use technology to conceal their illegal activities. Just as Roman Sterlingov, the founder of Bitcoin Fog, faced justice for laundering $400 million worth of cryptocurrency in September, the trial of Roman Storm, the co-founder of Tornado Cash, will determine the future of crypto mixing services in the U.S. market.