SNEAK PEEK
- Chainalysis helped the US government to recover $30 million worth of cryptocurrencies.
- $600 million cryptocurrencies were stolen in the hack on Axie Infinity and Ronin network.
- $600 million cryptocurrencies were stolen in the hack on Axie Infinity and Ronin network.
Crypto analytics firm Chainalysis aided the US Government to recover nearly $30 million in cryptocurrencies. Hackers had stolen over $600 million in the cyber attack on the video gaming platform Axie Infinity and Ronin Network.
With the help of other firms, Chainalysis was successful in recovering 10% of the stolen funds. The majority of the funds recovered are from the Axie Infinity platform.
Ronin Network announced the fund recovery news in its official Twitter post.
Important update regarding the Ronin incident. 30 M USD of crypto has been recovered.
— Ronin (@Ronin_Network) September 8, 2022
The current total value of the stolen funds is ~250 M. So this is ~12% of the total amount.
It will take some time for these funds to be returned to the Treasury.https://t.co/Q7cLUsgYsk
While Chainalysis in its Twitter post said,
With the help of law enforcement & leading orgs in the #crypto industry, more than $30M worth of #crypto stolen by North Korean-linked hackers has been seized.
In a series of Twitter posts, the company explained how the hackers attacked the Ronin Network and Axie Infinity along with focusing on the steps taken by the firm to recover the stolen crypto funds.
A North Korean hacking group, Lazarus Group gained access to the private keys of the nine validators on the Ronin network’s cross-chain bridge. They used the private keys to approve withdrawals of 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC.
Chainalysis went on to explain the step-by-step process of how the group laundered funds. One of the tools they used was Tornado Cash, sanctioned by the US Treasury, to swap tokens.
Stressing on the transparency of cryptocurrencies and underlying blockchain technology, Chainalysis also added,
Cryptocurrency’s transparency is instrumental to investigating hacks like the one suffered by Axie Infinity. Investigators with the right tools can follow the money to understand and disrupt a cybercrime organization’s laundering activities.
Ronin Network was attacked in March 2022 and the involvement of the North Korean state-backed Lazarus Group came to light in the following month.
