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- Not only had the North Korean hackers pulled off a daring theft, but the loot’s worth had climbed 15% while they sat on their hands. Since then, things have progressed quickly, and these criminals may find themselves with nothing as law enforcement officers begin to investigate.
- Bridge attacks have been a recent problem in the cryptosphere, with over $1 billion in cash stolen in the previous year alone. Stealing cryptocurrency is not the same as stealing fiat currency.
- Scammers often employ a mixer, which is a decentralized system (collection of smart contracts) that allows users to send crypto – both dirty and clean – to the mixer to pilfer cash. The dirty crypto is mixed up with the clean crypto, making it difficult to tell where the outgoing coin came from.
Over the course of 16 days, over $425 million in Ether was transferred out of hackers’ wallets. They profited from a price increase in the days following, which prompted a rush to cash out. Hackers stole $540 million in Ether (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC) from the popular NFT-based game Axie Infinity and transferred it to a digital wallet on March 23. The value of the crypto assets had increased to $620 million by the time the attack was made public.
Theft Of Cryptocurrency Is Not The Same As Theft Of Cash
Not only had the North Korean hackers pulled off a daring theft, but the loot’s worth had climbed 15% while they sat on their hands. Since then, things have progressed quickly, and these criminals may find themselves with nothing as law enforcement officers begin to investigate.
Not only had the North Korean hackers pulled off a daring theft, but the loot’s worth had climbed 15% while they sat on their hands. Since then, things have moved quickly, and these robbers may wind up with nothing as law enforcement officials begin to collaborate with gamers at all levels of the crypto ecosystem in order to intercept this plunder.
Because it targeted the bridge that joined the Axie Infinity blockchain to the Ethereum blockchain, the breach was dubbed the Ronin Bridge Exploit. Bridge attacks have been a recent problem in the cryptosphere, with over $1 billion in cash stolen in the previous year alone. Stealing cryptocurrency is not the same as stealing fiat currency. When it comes to cashing out, crypto burglars encounter a brick wall, unlike the classic bank robber who can launder his riches to buy a 50-meter boat.
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Changing Things Up
Every blockchain transaction can be traced back to a wallet address and is searchable publicly on sites like Etherscan. The FBI identified the hackers behind the Ronin Bridge Exploit as North Korea’s Lazarus Group on April 14. On the same day, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Lazarus Group to its Specially Designated Nationals list, which included its wallet address.
Such sanctions prohibit US persons and businesses from trading with this address to ensure the state-sponsored group can’t cash out any further monies they continue to hold onto through US-based crypto exchanges, according to a blog post by cryptocurrency compliance firm Elliptic. Scammers often employ a mixer, which is a decentralized system (collection of smart contracts) that allows users to send crypto – both dirty and clean – to the mixer to pilfer cash. The dirty crypto is mixed up with the clean crypto, making it difficult to tell where the outgoing coin came from.
Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.
