On Thursday, Norwegian police revealed the seizure of a record $5.8 million in bitcoin stolen by North Korean hackers last year. In March 2022, hackers stole $625 million from a blockchain project related to the crypto-based game Axie Infinity.
The robbery was one of the biggest of its sort in history, and it was traced to a North Korean hacker outfit known as “Lazarus” by the US.
The biggest money seizures ever made in Norway
According to Marianne Bender, Norway's chief public prosecutor, the confiscated cryptocurrency was part of the North Korean regime's finance for their nuclear weapons development. Okokrim, the country's national economic crime unit, announced the seizure of 60 million Norwegian crowns ($5.84 million), calling it “one of the greatest seizures of money ever made in Norway” and a record amount for a cryptocurrency confiscation. To seize the assets, the team collaborated with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's crypto-tracking experts.
According to Chainalysis, a U.S.-based blockchain analytics business, last year was the worst year on record for cryptocurrency heists, with hackers taking up to $3.8 billion, driven by North Korean-linked attacks.
Aleksander Larsen, the Norwegian creator of Sky Mavis, the firm behind Axie Infinity, is located in Vietnam. Larsen would not comment on the seizure, but he did praise the cryptocurrency exchange Binance for aiding Norwegian authorities with the seizure. According to a Binance spokesman, “when unscrupulous actors are found on their platform, they intervene and take proper measures, including freezing money and cooperating with law authorities to restore monies to their rightful owner.”
Crypto history in North Korea
North Korea has a history of denying charges of hacking and other intrusions. But, according to a presently classified United Nations study obtained by Reuters, North Korea stole more bitcoin assets in 2022 than in any previous year and targeted the networks of multinational aerospace and military firms.
In summary, Norwegian authorities recovered $5.8 million in bitcoin stolen by North Korean hackers from a blockchain project associated with the crypto-based game Axie Infinity. The confiscation was one of the biggest of its type, and it was determined to finance for North Korea's nuclear weapons development. To seize the assets, the country's national economic crime section collaborated with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's crypto-tracking experts. North Korea was connected to the greatest cryptocurrency theft in history last year, with hackers taking up to $625 million.
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