Lazarus Group Strikes Gold: $2.51M Crypto Heist Revealed!

Well, butter my biscuit! North Korea’s Lazarus Group, those rascals with a knack for digital mischief, have allegedly pocketed a cool $2.51 million by selling off 40.78 Wrapped Bitcoin they’ve been sitting on for two years. 🤑

According to the folks at SpotOnChain, a wallet suspected to belong to these cyber bandits just offloaded 40.778 WBTC (worth a whopping $3.51 million) for 1,847 Ethereum (ETH). Talk about a payday! 💰

After the sale, the wallet got all fancy and split 2.507 ETH into three separate wallets—205 ETH here, 500 ETH there, and finally, 1,865 ETH into another Lazarus-linked address. It’s like they’re playing a high-stakes game of Monopoly, but with real money. 🎲

Today, the Lazarus Group (North Korean hackers) sold 40.78 $WBTC ($3.51M) for a $2.51M profit (+251%)—after buying it 2 years ago.

They spent 999.9K $USDT to acquire the $WBTC at ~$24,521 in Feb 2023, and sold it for 1,857 $ETH at ~$86,170 just 12 hours ago.

The hackers then…

— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) April 3, 2025

Back in February 2023, the wallet shelled out approximately 999,900 USDT to snag 40.78 WBTC. At the time, WBTC was going for a modest $24,521. Fast forward to today, and Wrapped Bitcoin has skyrocketed by over 240%. As of now, WBTC is trading at $83,459. Not too shabby, eh? 📈

When the wallet made the purchase, WBTC was valued at an average price of $86,170. So, after holding onto 40.78 WBTC for about two years, they walked away with a tidy profit of $2.51 million—a 251% return. That’s what I call a long-term investment! 💼

The Lazarus Group’s on-chain shenanigans

Wallets allegedly tied to the infamous Lazarus Group from North Korea have been under the watchful eye of on-chain data analysts, especially after their hack on the crypto exchange Bybit. These digital desperados have been laundering funds from their crypto heists by swapping them with different cryptocurrencies and spreading them across various wallets. It’s like a high-tech game of hide and seek. 🕵️‍♂️

On March 4, the group reportedly managed to launder nearly 500,000 ETH—equivalent to $1.39 billion—from the Bybit hack in just 10 days. The cross-chain decentralized liquidity platform THORChain was used to process a staggering $605 million of the funds in a single day. That’s some serious money laundering mojo. 💸

According to data from Arkham Intelligence, a wallet linked to the Lazarus Group holds around $1.1 billion in crypto holdings, with the majority stored in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum, and Tether. It’s like they’ve got their own digital Fort Knox. 🏦

As previously reported by crypto.news, Google’s Threat Intelligence Group has detected an uptick in North Korean IT workers trying to infiltrate tech and crypto companies across Europe. These IT workers often act as insider entry points for state-sponsored hacking groups like the Lazarus Group. It’s like a cyber espionage thriller, but with more keyboards and less James Bond. 🕶️

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2025-04-03 12:11