• Norway has seized around $5.8 million in digital funds from Lazarus, a North Korean digital currency hacking group.
• This is allegedly a new record set by any region and the money was stolen from the crypto gaming platform Axie Infinity in early 2022.
• The European nation of Norway has taken back the funds, and both Sky Mavis and Binance have expressed their gratitude to law enforcement agents for their efforts.
Norway Seizes Crypto Funds from North Korea
The European nation of Norway has seized close to $6 million in crypto funds from Lazarus, a digital currency hacking group stationed in the Asian country of North Korea. This is allegedly a new record set by any region for taking back digital money from crypto thieves.
Money Stems From Early 2022 Hack
At press time, Norway has taken back around $5.8 million in digital funds which stemmed from an early 2022 hack initiated by Lazarus on the crypto gaming platform Axie Infinity. At that time more than $625 million in digital asset monies were stolen from the company.
North Korea Denies Allegations
North Korea has denied any allegations that it has been involved in crypto theft, however when one compares $5.8 million to $625 million it’s clear that this is but a drop in the bucket of what was easily a very large sum – making it difficult to take digital money back from those trained and endorsed by officials within North Korean government.
Sky Mavis & Binance Express Gratitude
The company behind Axie Infinity is called Sky Mavis and its founder Aleksander Larsen issued public thanks to police for doing all they could to get the money back as well as Binance –the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange – for intervening and assisting Norwegian law enforcement agents with returning funds to rightful owners.
North Korea’s Longstanding Crypto Thefts
It’s been stated for many years that North Korea has long been stealing cryptocurrencies to fund its nuclear program and recent reports suggest they targeted areas across Asia, Europe, and North America to do so.