According to Reuters, the United States has seized over $30 million worth of cryptocurrencies stolen from the Ronin Network hack. The $30 million that was allegedly seized from the North Korean-backed hackers, Lazarus, who was accused of stealing over $625 million.
On Thursday, Chainalysis, a crypto intelligence firm, announced the recovery of the stolen fund. The company said in a blog post that it played a role in its recovery with U.S. law enforcement and other crypto organizations. This is the first ever recovery of stolen cryptocurrency from North Korean hackers.
The seizures represent about 10% of the total funds stolen in March from the Ronin Network. “We estimate that so far in 2022, North Korean groups, have stolen approximately $1 billion of cryptocurrency from Defi protocols,” Chainalysis said. They added that bad actors are finding it difficult to successfully cash out cryptocurrencies.
The United States (OFAC) Sanctioned Tornado Cash
Chainalysis revealed that they began tracing the funds after the hackers started laundering the cryptocurrencies. During that period, the U.S Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash. The company was sanctioned for its role in laundering $455 million worth of cryptocurrencies stolen from Ronin Network.
Additionally, in May, the U.S Treasury Department sanctioned the virtual currency mixer, Blender, saying it was used in the laundering process of the Ronin hack. The Treasury Department also linked the Lazarus group to the cyberattack.
Chainalysis said that the Lazarus group has leveraged over 12,000 different crypto addresses, which demonstrates their highly sophisticated laundering capabilities
According to Chainalysis statement, Bridges served an important function to move digital assets between chains. The crypto intelligence firm said Lazarus is using bridges in an attempt to obscure sources of funding.
Furthermore, the group carried out hundreds of similar transactions across several blockchains to launder the funds stolen from Ronin Network. After Tornado Cash was sanctioned, the hackers conducted another laundering in addition to the Tornado Cash-based laundering.
