So, a North Korean hacker group just pulled off a massive $1.5 billion ETH heist. But here’s the catch – they’ve already spread the stolen ETH across 44 wallets, and all of them are blacklisted. That means no CEX (centralized exchange) will touch these funds, making it nearly impossible to off-ramp to fiat directly.
They could use DEXs to swap ETH for stablecoins or other tokens, but blockchain forensics are watching every move. If they interact with new wallets, those too will likely get flagged.
Even if they manage to swap ETH, converting it into real cash is a nightmare. No legit CEX will process these transactions, leaving them with risky options like:
🔸 Shady P2P trades
🔸 Shell companies
🔸 Sketchy brokers
💡 Bottom Line: Since the hackers cannot cash out immediately, they may not have any motivation to dump ETH for stables on DEXs. No sudden ETH crash is coming. The laundering process will be slow, risky, and expensive.
So, while this is a huge hack, the crypto market isn’t about to collapse overnight.
Thoughts? 🤔
