According to BlockBeats news, on August 18, the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group was identified as a potential mastermind behind the theft of funds from the UK-registered cryptocurrency exchange Lykke. If confirmed, this would mark the largest cryptocurrency theft perpetrated by North Korea in the UK to date. The isolated country has acquired billions of dollars in recent years through cryptocurrency theft to support its military and nuclear programs.
Lykke was established in 2015 and is headquartered in Switzerland, but registered in the UK. The company reported last year that its losses in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies totaled $22.8 million (approximately £16.8 million), forcing it to suspend operations. In March this year, a UK court ruled for the company to be liquidated following a lawsuit brought by more than 70 affected users.
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) under the UK Treasury listed North Korea as a potential attacker in a recent report. The report stated: 'This attack has been attributed to malicious cyber hackers from North Korea who stole funds on the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks.' The Treasury indicated that OFSI did not disclose the source of the information but has maintained close cooperation with law enforcement agencies.
Israeli cryptocurrency research firm Whitestream has also separately attributed the attack to the Lazarus Group. The company stated that the attackers laundered the stolen funds through two other cryptocurrency firms notorious for 'helping users hide their tracks' to evade anti-money laundering regulations. However, other researchers have questioned this conclusion, stating that it is currently uncertain who attacked the exchange.
