Binance and Huobi have decided to freeze the accounts of users believed to be associated with the Harmony Horizon bridge attack in June 2022. The trading platforms blocked over $1.4 million worth of cryptocurrency from accounts associated with the infamous Lazarus Group operating in North Korea.
Binance, Huobi resort to account freeze after Elliptic report
Elliptic, a blockchain analytics startup, conducted the investigation, according to a report the company released today. However, the company did not specify which coins or tokens had been frozen.
Elliptic added that it shared the information with Binance and Houbi, which swiftly froze the Lazarus Group-affiliated accounts.
North Korea’s notorious hackers
Since the Harmony hack, it has been publicly reported that North Korea-based Lazarus Group resorted to the now OFAC-sanctioned privacy mixer Tornado Cash in an attempt to obfuscate the transaction trace leading back to the initial heist.
In spite of the fact that this apparently makes it easier to cash out assets at an exchange, Elliptic investigators were able to trace all of the stolen funds routed through the mixer, according to the report. Simone Maini, the chief executive officer of Elliptic, opined that the events demonstrated the industry’s willingness to combat money laundering and prevent cryptocurrencies from becoming “sanctuaries” for illegal activities.