[NEWS] North Korea uses Tornado Cash to launder crypto assets worth about 23 billion yen

North Korean hackers were found to have laundered $147 million in crypto assets through the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash in March. Reuters reported that it had obtained classified documents from the United Nations sanctions monitors.

According to Reuters, in a classified document submitted on May 10, the monitors told the UN Security Council sanctions committee that they had investigated 97 suspected North Korean cyber attacks on cryptocurrency companies between 2017 and 2024, totaling about $3.6 billion.

Citing information from cryptocurrency analysis firm PeckShield and blockchain research firm Elliptic, the monitors told the committee that this included an attack late last year in which $147 million was stolen from cryptocurrency exchange HTX before being laundered in March of this year.

The watchdog reported that in 2024 alone it had monitored "11 cryptocurrency hacks totaling $54.7 million," adding that many of them "may have been carried out by North Korean IT personnel employed by smaller cryptocurrency-related companies."

North Korean IT talent operating overseas has generated "significant revenues for the country," according to UN member states and private companies, the watchdog said.

Sanctions on Tornado Cash

The United States sanctioned Tornado Cash in 2022 after it increasingly believed the company was involved in money laundering by North Korean hackers.

Two of the company's co-founders were arrested and indicted last August on charges of aiding and abetting the laundering of more than $1 billion, including from a cybercrime ring linked to North Korea.

In addition, co-founder Alexey Pertsev, who was arrested in the Netherlands in August 2022, was found guilty of money laundering at a trial on the 14th of this month and sentenced to 64 months in prison. Co-founder Roman Storm's trial in the United States is scheduled to begin on September 23rd.

Cryptocurrency mixing services such as Tornado Cash consolidate various cryptocurrency transactions by users, making them difficult to track and increasing the confidentiality of the sender. It has been alleged that various criminal groups, including North Korean hackers, have used such mixing services to launder money, and crackdowns are being strengthened, especially in the United States.

Reference:Reuters
Image: Shutterstock

Related articles

Cryptocurrency hacking damage by North Korean hackers in 2023 is revealed to be worth approximately 87 billion yen

Japan is identified as the world's largest victim of cryptocurrency theft by North Korea