Data collated by 21.co, the parent company of the world’s largest issuer of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products, 21Shares, revealed that the notorious North Korean hacking group Lazarus currently holds more than $47 million worth of crypto assets in its wallets.
According to 21.co’s dashboard on Dune Analytics, Lazarus Group holds several digital assets, including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Binance USD (BUSD), and Aave (AAVE).
Lazarus Group Holds $47M in Crypto
Most of Lazarus’ holdings are in BTC, with a significant portion in ETH and BNB. The infamous group allocated roughly 92% of its balance to BTC, holding $42.52 million of the leading crypto asset. Around 4% of the group’s holdings account for $1.91 million in ETH, while BNB and BUSD are worth $1.05 million and $640,000, respectively. AAVE has the smallest allocation, with 0.13%, amounting to $61,000.
The Lazarus group is believed to attack crypto entities on behalf of the North Korean government. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Office of Foreign Assets Control have identified and are tracking 295 wallets belonging to the cybercrime unit.
21.co noted that the known balance is a lower bound estimate of Lazarus’ crypto holdings based on publicly available data, as the group may have executed unknown hacks against crypto platforms.
Over time, Lazarus has spread its balance across various blockchains, including Avalanche, BNB Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Ethereum, and Bitcoin. The group’s crypto wallets are still active with a 24-hour inflow and netflow of $486. The last transaction was conducted on September 20.
Roughly $300M Stolen So Far in 2023
Lazarus Group is behind some of the crypto industry’s largest hacks and the most recent security attacks. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic revealed on September 15 that the cybercrime unit had stolen about $300 million in crypto across five exploits since June 3.
Some of Lazarus’ hack incidents include the $100 million theft from decentralized crypto wallet Atomic Wallet, another $60 million and $37 million siphoned from crypto payments platforms Alphapo and CoinsPaid. Earlier this month, crypto gambling platform Stake.com and crypto exchange CoinEx lost $41 million and $54 million to the notorious group.
Meanwhile, a recent Chainalysis report disclosed that thefts by Lazarus have declined by 80% to $340 million as of mid-September, compared to the $1.65 billion stolen last year.
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