Binance and Huobi freeze $1.4M in crypto linked to North Korean hackers

cointelegraph.com:

Cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Huobi have again frozen accounts linked to the $100 million Harmony Horizon bridge attack on Jun. 24, 2022. 

Around $1.4 million worth of crypto frozen by the trading platforms came from accounts linked to the notorious Lazarus Group operating out of North Korea.

The investigation was carried out by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, according to a report shared by the firm on Feb. 14. However, the firm didn’t state what coins or tokens were frozen.

Exchanges @binance and @HuobiGlobal today froze accounts containing $1.4 million stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group. This was made possible thanks to intel from Elliptic’s real-time investigations tools and a swift response by the receiving exchanges.https://t.co/f5bVpm8yfH

Elliptic explained it passed on the intelligence to Binance and Houbi who then acted promptly to freeze the Lazarus Group-linked accounts:

Since the Harmony exploit, it has been well documented that Lazarus Group resorted to the now United States OFAC-sanctioned privacy mixer Tornado Cash in an attempt to break the transaction trail back to the original theft.

While this supposedly makes it easier to cash out funds at an exchange, Elliptic investigators were able to trace the entirety of the stolen funds sent through the mixer in this case, the report stated.

Elliptic CEO Simone Maini suggested the events showed the industry was taking on the responsibility to prevent money laundering and stop crypto from becoming a “haven” for illicit activity:

The Harmony bridge attack was also attributed to the Lazarus Group by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Jan. 24.

This isn’t the first time Binance and Huobi have cooperated together on the matter.

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