Bybit has disclosed that approximately $16 million worth of stolen Bitcoin has been funneled through the Wasabi mixer, following a staggering $1.5 billion crypto hack.
Bybit has disclosed that approximately $16 million worth of stolen Bitcoin has been funneled through the Wasabi mixer, following a staggering $1.5 billion crypto hack. CEO Ben Zhou stated that the hackers, linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group, are actively laundering the stolen assets.
In an update, Zhou revealed that 86% of the stolen funds, equating to 440,091 ETH (about $1.23 billion), were converted into 12,836 BTC. These Bitcoin have been distributed across 9,117 wallets, with an average of 1.41 BTC per wallet.
The initial transfer of a significant portion of the stolen Ether into Bitcoin was through the cross-chain liquidity protocol THORChain.
The laundering operation employs Bitcoin mixing services, including Wasabi, CryptoMixer, and Railgun, which obscure transaction trails to enhance privacy. Specifically, Zhou noted that 193 BTC ($16 million) were directed through Wasabi before being sent to various peer-to-peer (P2P) vendors.
According to Bybit's latest data, 88.8% of these stolen funds remain traceable, while 7.6% have become untraceable, and 3.5% have been successfully frozen. Arkham data indicates that the Lazarus Group currently possesses around 13,400 BTC, most of which can be traced back to the Bybit hack.
Zhou emphasized the challenges of tracing transactions processed through mixers, stating that decoding these activities is a primary concern for recovery efforts.
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