North Korea's Lazarus Group is mentioned as a possible participant in the $1.4 billion hack of the Bybit cryptocurrency exchange and Solana memecoin scams.
Lazarus Group Expanding Crypto Exploits
On-chain researcher ZachXBT suggested that the Lazarus Group may be behind memecoin schemes on the Solana platform Pump.fun. The attackers may have received $1.08 million from the Bybit hack and transferred the funds to the address 'Ox3639…d7d1', which then sent USDC to Solana.
Stolen Funds Laundered Through Solana and Binance Smart Chain
According to ZachXBT, part of the stolen funds was transferred to Binance Smart Chain (BSC), where they were distributed across 30 addresses, consolidated into the wallet '0x0be9ab…b55a3'. Then $106,000 was transferred to 10 different BSC addresses before returning to Solana.
Impact of Malicious Actors on Solana
Recent memecoin scams on Solana have caused investors to be skeptical about projects linked to the blockchain network. Following scandals like the fabricated Libra project, token prices fell, and Solana user activity dropped from 15.6 million addresses in November 2024 to 9.5 million in February 2024.
Activities of groups like Lazarus continue to significantly impact the crypto space, spreading risks and decreasing investor trust.
