FBI Reveals North Korea’s Lazarus Group Involvement in $41 Million Stake Hack

US Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) has revealed that the North Korean hacking group, Lazarus, was responsible for swiping $41m as digital assets from the crypto casino Stake. 

Lazarus is one of the most prolific crypto hacking groups, accused of stealing $2 billion of digital assets from different platforms. According to the FBI, the group has stolen $41m of virtual assets from the crypto casino Stake. Investigation revealed that a gambling firm, Stake, backed by rapper Drake, experienced multiple anonymous transactions. First, the hacking group stole $16m in USD coins, Tether, DAI and Ethereum. After that, another $25m worth of virtual assets were swiped. Most of the transactions were initially undetectable, but the FBI disclosed dozens of crypto wallet addresses containing stolen funds. 

The FBI stated that the Stake casino was attacked by a digital fingerprint connected with the Lazarus group. The agency accused Lazarus hacking group of creating a funnel against crypto assets Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polygon. Due to this, they are involved in many crypto scams and are a significant issue for all crypto projects. They were also involved in other recent cryptocurrency hacks where they laundered billions of dollars. Previously, the Lazarus group also swiped money from Atomic Wallet, Aplhapo and CoinsPaid projects. In June, the crypto analysis company Elliptic stated that the Lazarus organisation had committed multiple crimes and scams of more than $2 billion in digital assets. Furthermore, the Ronin Network, an Ethereum sidechain that is utilised for the play-to-earn cryptocurrency game Axie Infinity, encountered a loss of $622 million in April, and the US Treasury Department associated the hacker gang Lazarus with the attack, making it the biggest crypto exploits ever. 

Consequently, the North Korean hacker group’s on-chain activity has impacted Tornado Cash’s coin mixing protocol as it has sought to hide its digital tracks. To combat money laundering and secure the integrity of the crypto industry, a US federal court judge in July 2022 banned the use of Tornado Cash in the US, and furthermore, in August, one of the protocol’s co-founders was detained by the US Justice Department. 

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