U.S. seizes $30 million in crypto from North Korea-linked hackers

(Reuters) – The US has seized over $30 million in cryptocurrency stolen by North Korean-linked hackers Lazarus from the favored on-line recreation Axie Infinity, crypto intelligence agency Chainalysis mentioned on Thursday.

The corporate mentioned in a weblog submit it performed a task within the restoration with U.S. regulation enforcement and different crypto organizations, with out naming them, within the first ever restoration of stolen cryptocurrency by a North Korea hacking group.

Chainalysis and North Korea’s mission to the United Nations didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. The FBI didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The seizures characterize about 10% of the overall funds stolen in March from Ronin Community, a sidechain constructed for the play-to-earn recreation Axie Infinity, Chainalysis mentioned.

Ronin mentioned in March hackers stole about $615 million in cryptocurrency.

“We estimate that up to now in 2022, North Korea-linked teams have stolen roughly $1 billion of cryptocurrency from DeFi protocols,” Chainalysis mentioned. He was referring to decentralized finance protocols, an umbrella time period for monetary providers supplied on public blockchains.

The U.S Division of Treasury in Might sanctioned digital foreign money mixer Blender, saying it was used within the laundering course of for the Axie Infinity heist.

The Treasury Division in April additionally linked Lazarus to the assault.

(Reporting by Rachna Dhanrajani in Bengaluru; Modifying by Richard Chang)