Binance intercepts $5.8 million stolen by North Korean hackers
North Korean hackers distributed funds to 86 accounts, Changpeng Zhao, the company's founder, said.
As Binance's CEO tweeted, the cryptocurrency exchange returned $5.8 million that North Korean hackers stole during the Axie Infinity hack. "Today, a group of hackers from the DPRK started transferring stolen Axie Infinity funds. Part of the money ended up on Binance and was distributed to 86 accounts. We managed to recover $5.8 million. We have done this many times for other projects in the past," said Changpeng Zhao.
Note that the Ronin bridge was hacked in March. The popular NFT game Axie Infinity runs on its blockchain. As a result, the hacker attack resulted in the withdrawal of more than $625 million worth of cryptocurrency. Attackers made use of the vulnerability as early as March 23, but the problem was detected only on March 29, when one of the users failed to withdraw funds.
Last week, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Lazarus Group of hackers, which has been linked to the DPRK. The Treasury Department blacklisted an Ethereum wallet belonging to the group. At the same time, the FBI said Lazarus Group and another APT3 group were involved in the theft of $620 million worth of Ethereum cryptocurrency.
The DPRK hacking group started to move their Axie Infinity stolen funds today. Part of it made to Binance, spread across over 86 accounts. $5.8M has been recovered. We done this many times for other projects in the past too. Stay #SAFU.
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) April 22, 2022
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