North Korea has been confirmed as the perpetrator behind the theft of 58 billion won (41 million dollars) worth of Ethereum from the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit five years ago. At current market rates, this stolen amount is now valued at around 1.47 trillion won (1.05 billion dollars).
South Korea’s National Office of Investigation revealed on Thursday that two hacker groups affiliated with North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, “Lazarus” and “Andariel,” were involved in the theft of 342,000 Ethereum tokens from the Upbit exchange in 2019.
The stolen assets were valued at 58 billion won at the time of the theft, but their current market value has skyrocketed to approximately 1.47 trillion won.
This is the first official confirmation by South Korean law enforcement agencies regarding North Korea’s involvement in cryptocurrency hacking.
Investigators found that 57% of the stolen Ethereum was exchanged for Bitcoin at a 2.5% discount through three virtual asset exchange platforms believed to be set up by North Korea. The remaining Ethereum was dispersed across fifty-one overseas exchanges for money laundering purposes. A portion of the assets converted to Bitcoin was transferred to a cryptocurrency exchange in Switzerland.
After proving to Swiss prosecutors that the Bitcoin originated from assets stolen in South Korea, a small fraction—4.8 Bitcoin (worth about 430,000 dollars)—was recovered and returned to Upbit.
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