"'Bybit Hack' North Korean Lazarus Group... Possibility of Money Laundering Through Mixers"

An analysis suggests that the North Korean hacker group Lazarus, which attacked global cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, may engage in money laundering using 'coin mixers'.

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic revealed in a report on the 23rd (local time) that "the Ethereum (ETH) stolen (from Bybit) is steadily being converted to Bitcoin (BTC)" and "additional laundering using mixers is expected, following patterns previously used by Lazarus." Mixers are programs that increase anonymity by making cryptocurrency transaction records untraceable.

Elliptic pointed out that Lazarus follows a consistent pattern in their money laundering process. Elliptic explained, "The (Lazarus) hackers exchange stolen tokens for Ethereum" because "while tokens with centralized issuers can be frozen, Ethereum or Bitcoin cannot be frozen by central authorities." They added, "Lazarus utilizes 'layering' techniques that make tracking difficult by going through multiple stages of laundering, exploiting blockchain transparency," and "Lazarus is currently in this second phase."

However, there might be limitations in using mixers for money laundering. Elliptic analyzed that "while Lazarus is the most sophisticated and powerful organization in cryptocurrency money laundering, continuously developing techniques to avoid fund tracking and seizure," they noted that "due to the very large amount of stolen funds, there may be constraints in using mixers."