The North Korean hackers behind the record-breaking $1.4 billion Ethereum heist have successfully completed the first state of laundering.
Experts from multiple blockchain security companies said Monday that the hackers were able to move all of the stolen ETH coins to new addresses — the first step taken before the funds can be laundered further.
Ari Redbord, a senior official at TRM Labs, told Recorded Future News that the laundering process relied heavily on decentralized finance (DeFi) tools that helped obscure the origins of the stolen assets.
Initially, the hackers attempted to launder these funds using eXch, a cryptocurrency exchange that does not comply with Know Your Customer Laws (KYC).
Experts at another blockchain security firm, Elliptic, said the North Korean group was forced to pause the laundering process on Friday because the service they were using, eXch, couldn’t handle the volume of transactions. eXch does not use a “Know Your Customer” (KYC) protocol, meaning no proof of identity is required.
I’m definitely not a fan of using coins like Bitcoin or Ethereum for private transactions - they’re just too traceable. But it’s wild to watch all this play out in real-time