Lazarus links funds laundered through OTC brokers, says Zachxbt

Crypto investigator Zachxbt noted that the illegal laundry network and small OTC brokers have successfully stolen funds in several recent hacks related to the Lazarus Group. He estimates that Tron’s Black U Market is over $5-10 billion and has little contribution.

Crypto traders too It’s attracting attention Many crypto exchanges sit and monitor and collect fees and do nothing when more than 50% of their protocol’s activities come from stolen funds. He believes that abuses in the crypto industry increased after politicians launched memokine and numerous cases were dropped, making action even more possible.

The crypto sector is rapidly growing due to illegal laundry

Zachxbt believes there has never been a bad time to do black hats (phishing, social engineering, robbery) against hacking grey hats when the current environment is preferred. Hydra, the world’s largest darknet market, was primarily BTC and Monero, previously fostering more than $5 billion in illegal transactions.

After buying and selling illegal goods, criminals laundered their revenues through crypto exchanges in jurisdictions with weak AML laws, privacy wallets and OTC (commercial) brokers.

In 2016, hackers stole around 120,000 Bitcoins (valued today by $4.5 billion) from the Bitfinex Cryptocurrency Exchange. The funds were moved to multiple wallets and washed in a variety of ways over the years, including chain hopping, crypto mixers, P2P platforms, and small VASPs.

In March 2020, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Administration (OFAC) approved two Chinese citizens involved in the theft stolen from a 2018 cyberattack on cryptocurrency exchanges. Tian Yinyin and Li Jiadong have been approved for doing more than $100 million in laundry with stolen funds related to the Lazarus Group.

“The North Korean administration continues its widespread campaign of widespread cyberattacks to steal funds, and the US continues to protect its global financial system by taking responsibility for helping North Korea participate in cybercrime.”

–Stephen MunichinFormer US Treasury Secretary

Tom Robinson, co-founder of Crypto Investigator Elliptic, argued that North Korea is perfect for washing the digital assets of all criminals involved in cryptocurrency. Dorit Dor, checkpoint at Cyber ​​Security Company, said North Korea was able to create a successful industry for hacking and washing through a closure system and a closed economy. He also believes the big problem is that not all crypto companies are willing to help them like others.

February, group hacking One of Bibit’s suppliers secretly modifying digital wallet addresses to transfer 401,000 Ethereum. Crypto Exchange Exchange has been accused by Bybit and others of not stopping criminals from winning more than $90 million through the platform.

Ari Redbord, global policy director at TRM Labs, said it is the pace of post-hack laundering that sets the group’s bi-bit hacks apart. Redbord revealed that within two days of the attack, the group had poured $160 million through illegal channels. He also argued that the shift raised surprising questions about whether North Korea expanded its laundry capabilities as the criminal finance network never moved it quickly to process the funds.

DOJ file a civil forfeiture complaint against the North Korean government

June 5th, US Department of Justice Submit The Civil Forbidden Complaint in US District Court for the District of Columbia covers more than $7.7 million in digital assets, NFTs and cryptocurrencies linked to a global laundry scheme overseen by North Korea. The complaint revealed that the assets represent the proceeds of wire fraud and money laundering crimes committed by North Korean citizens acting under the direction of the Foreign Trade Bank and the Ministry of Defense.

The agency said the lawsuit focused primarily on the deployment of overseas IT workers in China, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, and used counterfeit identities to gain employment in US and foreign technology companies. According to the civil complaint, payments to individuals, often made at USDC and USDT, were routed through laundry networks and ultimately transferred to wallets controlled by Republic of Korea (DPRK) entities.