💰 The crypto market breathed a sigh of relief - after a large-scale hacker incident that resulted in the theft of 401,346 ETH ($1.46 billion), the Bybit exchange successfully restored its reserves.
🔍 How did they do it?
✔️ We bought 266,700 ETH for $742 million through OTC transactions.
✔️ The remainder was raised through strategic partners.
⚠️ However, immediately after the reserves were restored, the price of ETH dropped – the market realized that there would no longer be mass purchases that fueled the price increase.
💀 The Lazarus Group is on the hunt again – laundering billions!
#ZachXBT confirmed that the hack was carried out by the infamous North Korean hacker group Lazarus, and received $50,000 for the investigation.
🕵️♂️ How do they launder stolen money?
🔸 Converting #ERC -20 into $ETH – getting rid of traces.
🔸 ETH is being funneled through mixers – hiding its origins.
🔸 ETH is being converted into BTC – easier to cash out.
🔸 BTC is being cashed out through Asian exchanges – the final point.
⚠️ The process can take years – Lazarus is in no hurry. For example, some of the stolen crypto assets from 2016 have still not been cashed out.
🔥 North Korea has already announced a strategic reserve of ETH worth $1.5 billion. This means that stolen funds may not immediately appear on the market – they may be frozen for years, waiting for the right moment.
💡 What does this mean for the market?
🔹 In the short term – the price of ETH may be under pressure due to decreased demand from Bybit.
🔹 In the long term – if #LazarusGroup starts selling ETH or BTC in bulk, it could cause panic in the market.
🔹 Threat of sanctions – exchanges may start blocking suspicious funds, which will affect liquidity.
📊 The main question: who’s next? After all, Lazarus is known for not stopping at one hack...
⏳ We are monitoring the developments.
