In March, North Korea laundered $147.5 million through the Tornado Cash cryptomy, which was stolen from the HTX cryptocurrency exchange in 2023. According to reports by Reuters, this information comes from confidential documents used to monitor UN sanctions.
The UN reports that North Korean hackers conducted 97 cyberattacks on cryptocurrency companies from 2017 to 2024, resulting in approximately $3.6 billion in damages. Among these attacks was one on the HTX crypto exchange in November 2023, where hackers stole $147.5 million and subsequently laundered the funds in March 2024. Analysts from Peckshield provided information on the movement of these ill-gotten gains.
In 2024, there were 11 cases of digital asset theft totaling $54.7 million, with many of these thefts attributed to “IT specialists from the DPRK, who were inadvertently hired by small cryptocurrency companies”.
Despite facing US sanctions in August 2022, Tornado Cash, a service for mixing cryptocurrencies, continued to operate due to its decentralized structure. The US Department of Treasury also imposed sanctions on a similar service, SinBad.io, in November of the previous year. Additionally, in May, Tornado Cash developer Alexei Pertsev was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 64 months in prison.