North Korean hackers have been confirmed to have entered the secondary laundering stage for funds stolen from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Blockchain analytics firms Chainalysis and Lookonchain reported on November 2 (local time) that North Korean hackers have begun emptying temporary wallets where the cryptocurrency stolen from Binance was distributed and stored, and moving it to networks such as Solana (SOL).
They are exchanging 970,522 of the Solana tokens secured in this manner (worth approximately 129 billion KRW) into Bitcoin.
Chainalysis analyzed that "North Korea-linked actors have embarked on a new laundering phase for the funds stolen from Binance."
This marks the second laundering stage, following the initial diversion of the stolen funds into temporary wallets under their control immediately after the hack.
It is expected that the hackers are attempting to make tracking difficult through transactions that move the diverted funds to other blockchain networks like Solana and then convert them back into Bitcoin.
In this process, they are disrupting tracking networks by repeating more than 3,000 transfers across over 1,000 wallets.
In particular, for stablecoins (cryptocurrencies pegged in value) or altcoins (cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin) that have separate issuers, there are concerns that assets could be frozen or transactions blocked. Therefore, it is interpreted that they are ultimately trying to convert them into Bitcoin, a decentralized cryptocurrency with no separate controlling institution, making freezing impossible.
It is also presumed that they considered the fact that Bitcoin has the highest liquidity, making it advantageous for cash conversion.
Previously, the hackers carried out a hack on Binance on October 29, stealing cryptocurrency and stablecoins worth 6.3 billion USD (approximately 8.4 trillion KRW).
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officially named the elite North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau-affiliated hacking organization "TraderTraitor" as the mastermind behind the hacking incident.
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