The hacker group Lazarus has successfully laundered a massive amount of Ethereum stolen from the Bybit exchange in just 10 days. The article explores the incident details, participant reactions, and steps being taken to recover the funds.
Massive Theft: Incident Details
According to analyst EmberCN, the Lazarus group managed to launder around 499,000 ETH, totaling approximately $1.39 billion, previously stolen from Bybit. The primary channel for laundering the funds was through THORChain, where the funds were converted into Bitcoin.
THORChain Under Fire
THORChain has faced criticism for its involvement in illegal transactions, as the platform processed $5.9 billion in transaction volume and collected $5.5 million in fees. One critic labeled THORChain's response as 'negligence at best, greed at worst'. In response to the criticism, a core contributor, Pluto, resigned after a proposal to halt ETH transactions was rejected.
Bybit's Response and Investigation Progress
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou announced that 77% of the stolen funds remain traceable, while 20% have become untraceable, and 3% have been frozen. To recover the stolen assets, Bybit launched the Lazarusbounty.com website and is offering bounties to exchanges that help in tracing, having paid $2.17 million to 11 bounty hunters.
The incident of theft and laundering of significant amounts of ETH has drawn attention to vulnerabilities within cryptocurrency ecosystems and has sparked criticism towards platforms facilitating such operations. Bybit continues its efforts to recover the stolen funds, offering bounties for assistance.
