Has a Sanctioned Bitcoin Mixer Been Resurrected to Aid North Korea’s Lazarus Group?
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Elliptic analysis indicates that Blender – sanctioned for helping North Korea’s Lazarus Group to launder tens of millions of dollars in Bitcoin – is highly likely to have re-launched as Sinbad. Sinbad has laundered close to $100 million in Bitcoin from hacks attributed to Lazarus, to date.
The Lazarus Group
When crypto game Axie Inifinity’s cross-chain bridge was hacked in March 2022, $540 million in cryptoassets were stolen. Shortly afterwards, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against the thief’s Ethereum address and identified the owner as the Lazarus Group. This is a North Korea-controlled cybercrime group believed to be responsible for stealing billions of dollars worth of cryptoassets.
Despite the sanctions, the stolen funds were quickly moved between different cryptoassets and blockchains, using decentralized and centralized exchanges and cross-chain bridges. This type of cross-chain and cross-asset laundering has become very common, and Elliptic has developed new technologies to …
The Lazarus Group
When crypto game Axie Inifinity’s cross-chain bridge was hacked in March 2022, $540 million in cryptoassets were stolen. Shortly afterwards, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against the thief’s Ethereum address and identified the owner as the Lazarus Group. This is a North Korea-controlled cybercrime group believed to be responsible for stealing billions of dollars worth of cryptoassets.
Despite the sanctions, the stolen funds were quickly moved between different cryptoassets and blockchains, using decentralized and centralized exchanges and cross-chain bridges. This type of cross-chain and cross-asset laundering has become very common, and Elliptic has developed new technologies to …