The CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, Ben Zhou, confirmed that nearly 69% of digital assets stolen by North Korean hackers remain under investigation and their whereabouts are being tracked. The perpetrators converted over $1.4 billion into cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum and Bitcoin, using various services for money laundering.
This is reported by Business • Media
Methods and volumes of asset laundering
According to Ben Zhou, approximately $960 million of the total amount was converted into over 10,000 BTC using the service THORChain. Additionally, popular mixers and cross-chain bridges such as Wasabi, CryptoMixer, Tornado Cash, and Railgun were utilized.
“We noticed that the mixer predominantly used by North Korea is Wasabi. After a certain amount of funds was laundered through Wasabi, a small portion ended up in CryptoMixer, Tornado Cash, and Railgun,” said Zhou.
He stated that about 27.6% of the assets were funneled into the shadows through mixers and P2P networks, while 3.8% were successfully frozen. Currently, approximately $17 million remains on the Ethereum network, which can still be tracked.
The exchange’s efforts to recover stolen funds
Bybit is actively working to uncover and recover the stolen assets. Out of over 5,000 refund requests, only 70 have been confirmed as valid. With the help of specialists, the company has managed to freeze assets worth $42 million and recover $2.3 million as part of the compensation program, most of which has been directed to the Mantle platform.
“We welcome more reports; we need more bounty hunters who can decrypt mixers, as we will need significant help going forward,” said Ben Zhou.
Additionally, due to a massive hack, the platform eXch, which is involved in money laundering, announced it would cease operations as of May 1, 2025. Reports indicate that hackers laundered over $35 million through this exchange. In light of these events, North Korea has entered the top 5 countries by Bitcoin holdings following the hack of Bybit.