Stablecoin providers have frozen nearly $5 million held by the infamous North Korean Lazarus Group following investigators’ efforts to trace the funds.
Blockchain expert ZachXBT disclosed this update in a post on X on September 14.
Lazarus Group Affected by $5 Million in Stablecoin Freeze
ZachXBT reported that stablecoin issuers Tether, Circle, Paxos, and Techteryx have blacklisted two addresses holding $4.96 million in assets. However, these wallets still contain $720,000 in DAI and $313,000 in Ethereum, which remain unaffected.
These funds are tied to a broader investigation that ZachXBT carried out in April. His findings indicate that the Lazarus Group has laundered over $200 million through 25 crypto-related hacks from 2020 to 2023.
ZachXBT mentioned that a total of $6.98 million has been frozen through these investigations, including $1.65 million across various exchanges. He did not specify which exchanges are involved.
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In the meantime, ZachXBT criticized Circle, the issuer of USDC, for its slow response in blocking the funds. He argued that Circle and its CEO Jeremy Allaire appear to prioritize their profits over the health of the crypto ecosystem.
The blockchain investigator asserted that Circle took over four months longer than other major stablecoin issuers to blacklist the funds linked to the Lazarus Group. He expressed his disappointment with the company’s lack of action, highlighting that Circle has done little to prevent money laundering on its platform.
“In public, they claim to be the compliant stablecoin aiding the ecosystem, which is not entirely accurate,” ZachXBT stated.
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He further accused the company of “virtue signaling,” pointing out that despite employing more than 1,000 individuals, Circle lacks an incident response team to act swiftly after DeFi hacks or exploits.
Investigators have connected the Lazarus Group to several significant crypto hacks, including the recent $20 million attack on the Indodax exchange. Reports indicate that the group has siphoned approximately $3 billion from the cryptocurrency sector over the years, with authorities suspecting that North Korea uses these illicit funds to finance its weapons program.
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