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North Korea’s hacker organization Lazarus is using Tornado Cash again despite U.S. sanctions against the popular cryptocurrency mixer.&nbsp; 
Blockchain analytics startup Elliptic <a href="https://www.elliptic.co/blog/north-korean-hackers-return-to-tornado-cash-despite-sanctions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on March 14 that Lazarus funneled $12 million into the Ethereum-based crypto tumbler. The funds, denominated in Ether (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/ethereum/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH</a>), originated from a November hack on Justin Sun’s HTX and the exchange’s cross-chain solution, Heco Bridge.&nbsp; 
According to Elliptic and several other on-chain security firms, Lazarus <a href="https://crypto.news/operations-resume-on-htx-after-suspicious-transfers-lead-to-100m-combined-exploit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">orchestrated</a> a $100 million attack on the two platforms last year. The funds remained dormant until March 13, when North Korea’s infamous hacker group began laundering stolen HTX assets.&nbsp; 
According to Elliptic, Lazarus has made over 40 transactions into the smart-contract-based mixer in the last 24 hours.&nbsp; 
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full">
 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1000" height="381" src="https://crypto.news/app/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-14-at-12.15.29.png" alt="Lazarus" class="wp-image-14258456">
 <figcaption class="wp-element-caption">
 Heco bridge, HTX stolen funds funneled into Tornado Cash | Source: Elliptic
 </figcaption>
</figure> 
For years, the criminal organization frequently used Tornado Cash to obscure transactions and launder illicit wealth until U.S. authorities <a href="https://crypto.news/coin-center-losses-its-legal-fight-against-u-s-treasury-over-tornado-cash-sanctions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sanctioned</a> the service in August 2022. However, due to its decentralized design, Tornado Cash continued to operate since the government could not effect a total shutdown.&nbsp; 
 You might also like: <a href="https://crypto.news/crypto-mixer-tornado-cash-laundered-over-550m-in-2023-despite-sanctions/"> Crypto mixer Tornado Cash laundered over $550m in 2023 despite sanctions </a> 
U.S. agencies targeted other Lazarus Group options like Bitcoin-based mixers Blender and <a href="https://crypto.news/sinbad-crypto-mixer-sanctioned-by-u-s-treasury/">Sinbad</a> in response. These platforms differ from Tornado Cash, as developers utilized a centralized model for the design. This meant that law enforcement was able to shutter the services completely.&nbsp; 
As crypto.news reported, citing Chainalysis data, the crackdown <a href="https://crypto.news/chainalysis-crypto-money-laundering-falls-29-as-lazarus-others-respond-to-mixer-sanctions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">resulted</a> in a 29% reduction in crypto money laundering throughout 2023, as Lazarus and other bad actors struggled to off-ramp looted funds.&nbsp; 
However, the North Korean syndicate’s return to Tornado Cash signals a scarcity of large-scale mixers, mainly due to U.S. enforcement action and regulatory takedowns.&nbsp; 
 Read more: <a href="https://crypto.news/lazarus-group-hackers-from-country-with-no-internet-threaten-defi/"> Lazarus Group: hackers from country with no internet threaten defi </a>

Elliptic: Lazarus Group taps Tornado Cash to launder Heco Bridge, HTX hack proceeds

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