North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group has been tied to the $23 million hack that forced British crypto startup Lykke into liquidation.
Lykke, a UK-registered trading platform, suffered a major breach last year when hackers stole 158 BTC and 2,161 ETH. The attackers converted the stolen Ether into DAI, a stablecoin issued by MakerDAO, while the Bitcoin was funneled through multiple wallets.
In March, a court ordered the company to be liquidated after investors launched legal action over their losses.
According to The Telegraph, the UK Treasury’s sanctions office has now blamed the Lazarus Group for the heist.
“The attack has been attributed to malicious Democratic People’s Republic of Korea cyberactors, who stole funds on both the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks.”
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFS)
North Korea’s Biggest crypto scam against The UK
The Lykke breach is considered North Korea’s biggest crypto scam against a UK company. Earlier this year, the Lazarus Group was also blamed for the record $1.5 billion theft from crypto exchange ByBit.
Cybersecurity firm Cyvers has further tied the group to the July 19 hack of Indian exchange CoinDCX, where $44 million was stolen.
Analysts believe these funds are helping bankroll Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and military programs, continuing a pattern of billions siphoned from past crypto attacks.
Bypassing anti–money Laundering Safeguards
Investigators said the hackers laundered the stolen assets through two other crypto firms, bypassing anti–money laundering safeguards.
Still, some experts dispute these findings, arguing it is premature to pin the attack on Lazarus.
Lykke, founded in 2015 and based in Switzerland but incorporated in the UK, promoted itself as a fee-free crypto trading platform.
In 2023, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a warning against the company for offering crypto products to British users without proper registration.
