The North Korean state-backed hacker collective, Lazarus Group, has recently transferred approximately $3.76 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) to five undisclosed wallet addresses. According to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence, the group’s total Bitcoin holdings have now decreased to 13,441 BTC, currently valued at around $1.15 billion.
Large-Scale Bitcoin Transfers
On March 20, at around 9:18 AM UTC, the Lazarus-linked wallet initiated a transfer of 12.929 BTC (worth approximately $1.12 million) to an unknown address. Shortly after, additional transactions followed, dispersing Bitcoin across four more wallet addresses. The breakdown of the transfers is as follows:
- 12.929 BTC ($1.12 million) to one unknown wallet
- 0.308 BTC to two separate unknown wallets
- 14.849 BTC to another unknown wallet
- 15.684 BTC to yet another unknown wallet
In total, over 44.07 BTC was moved to different destinations within a span of three hours, raising suspicions that the group may be attempting to launder their funds by distributing them across multiple wallets.
Laundering Suspicions and Crypto Mixers
The movement of funds aligns with known money-laundering tactics, which often involve spreading illicit assets across multiple wallets to obfuscate the transaction trail. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou recently stated that 88.87% of the stolen funds from the exchange remain traceable, with 86.29% converted into 12,836 BTC and spread across 9,117 wallets. Zhou also highlighted that the hackers are likely utilizing Bitcoin mixers to further conceal the origins of the stolen funds, making them increasingly difficult to track.
Lazarus Group’s Crypto Holdings
While Bitcoin remains the group’s primary asset, the wallet labeled “Lazarus Group” by Arkham Intelligence also holds significant amounts of other cryptocurrencies:
- 13,658 ETH (Ethereum) valued at approximately $27 million
- $3.17 million in BNB (Binance Coin)
- $706,400 in DAI (Dai stablecoin)
- $288,870 in BABYDOGE (Baby Doge Coin)
- Additional holdings in stablecoins like BUSD, USDT, and USDC
Bitcoin, however, remains the dominant share of Lazarus Group’s crypto assets.
One of the Largest Crypto Heists
Lazarus Group has been linked to several high-profile cybercrimes since its emergence in 2009. Their latest attack targeted the Bybit crypto exchange, resulting in the loss of approximately $1.4 billion, making it one of the largest crypto heists ever recorded.
With the latest BTC transfers, analysts and cybersecurity experts continue to monitor the group’s activities closely, as authorities attempt to trace and recover the stolen funds.
