Cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Huobi have refrozen accounts linked to the $100 million Harmony Bridge hack last June.
Intelligence About Binance and Huobi Frozen Accounts Came From Elliptic
About $1.4 million worth of crypto, which was frozen by trading platforms, came from accounts linked to the notorious Lazarus Group, which operates out of North Korea.
According to a report shared by the firm on Feb. 14, the investigation was led by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. However, the firm did not specify which coins or tokens were frozen.
Elliptic announced that it has forwarded the intelligence to Binance and Houbi, and they have taken immediate action to freeze Lazarus Group-linked accounts:
“The stolen funds remained dormant until recently when our researchers began to see them transferred to exchanges through complex transaction chains. By promptly notifying these platforms of these illegal deposits, they could suspend these accounts and freeze funds.”
The Crypto Industry Should Be Prevented From Being a Haven for Money Laundering
Since the Harmony Bridge hack, it has been well documented that Lazarus Group now resorts to the US OFAC-approved privacy mixer Tornado Cash in an attempt to retrace the transaction trace back to the original theft.
Although this allegedly made it easier to cash out funds on an exchange, the report said, Elliptic investigators were able to track down all of the stolen funds sent through the mixer in this case.
Elliptic CEO Simone Maini suggested that the events show that the industry takes responsibility for preventing money laundering and preventing crypto from becoming a “sanctuary” for illegal activity:
“Money laundering has been detected today, and stolen funds linked to North Korea have been frozen in real-time. As an industry, we have the power and responsibility to prevent digital assets from becoming a haven for money launderers and evaders from sanctions and ensure that they become a force for good. “
The Group Behind the Harmony Bridge Hack Is Thought To Be The North Korean Lazarus Group
The Harmony Bridge hack was attributed to the Lazarus Group by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation on January 24. This is not the first time Binance and Huobi have collaborated on this.
On January 16, Huobi and Binance managed to freeze and recover 121 Bitcoins, worth $2.5 million at the time, in connection with the Harmony attack.
However, the recovery was only a fraction of the $63.5 million laundered that weekend, according to crypto detective ZachXBT, who claims the funds were laundered through the Ethereum-based privacy protocol Railgun before being sent to three different exchanges.
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