North Korean Lazarus Group Accumulates Over $40M in Bitcoin, Data Reveals

North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group is sitting on a substantial crypto stash worth $47 million, primarily consisting of Bitcoin, according to recent data.

The information comes from an analysis by 21.co, the parent company of 21Shares, using Dune Analytics. The wallets associated with Lazarus Group hold about $42.5 million in Bitcoin, alongside $1.9 million in Ether, $1.1 million in Binance Coin (BNB), and approximately $640,000 in stablecoins, predominantly BUSD.

Remarkably, the amount of cryptocurrency held by the group seems to have decreased from $86 million on September 6, shortly after the Stake.com hack in which Lazarus Group was implicated.

This analysis tracked 295 wallets that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) have identified as owned by the hacking group.

What’s surprising is that the group hasn’t invested in privacy coins like Monero (XMR), Dash, or Zcash (ZEC), which are generally more challenging to trace.

Despite this reported drop in holdings, Lazarus Group’s crypto wallets remain quite active, with the most recent transaction recorded on September 20.

However, it’s worth noting that the actual holdings of the group might be significantly higher than what’s been reported. According to 21.co, this is a conservative estimate based on publicly available information.

In a separate incident reported on September 13, Lazarus Group was linked to an attack on the cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx, resulting in a loss of at least $55 million.

The FBI has also identified Lazarus Group’s involvement in other hacks, including Alphapo, CoinsPaid, and Atomic Wallet, with a combined theft amounting to over $200 million in 2023.