By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 24th, 2024
The Ronin Bridge Hack, which involved exploiting Axie Infinity’s side chain, Ronin Bridge, resulted in the loss of over $600 million.
The US Treasury Department has linked the North Korean hacker, Lazarus Group, to the largest crypto hack in history, Chainalysis and Ronin also confirmed the development. Thereafter, the department added an Ethereum wallet address to its SDN list. The sanctioned address contained about 148000 ETH.
This is the first time the treasury is blacklisting any address allegedly owned by the Lazarus Group. A Treasury spokesperson said, “Identification of the wallet will make clear to other VC actors, that by transacting with it, they risk exposure to US sanctions.”
The Lazarus Group and Its Ronin Bridge Hack
The Lazarus Group gained acclaim in 2014 after hacking Sony Entertainment. Sony had produced a satirical movie that mocked the Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un. Since then, the FBI reports that the group has continued to carry out attacks to fund the regime.
The Ronin Bridge Hack, which involved exploiting Axie Infinity’s side chain, Ronin Bridge, resulted in the loss of over $600 million. Using the Tornado cash Ethereum transaction, the hackers siphoned 28000 ETH out of the system.
A Chainalysis report previously revealed that the regime made as much as $400 million from crypto hacks in 2021. The reports identified the Lazarus Group as a major actor in the attacks.
Hacks and New Security Measures
2022 has seen an unprecedented rise in the number of attacks on crypto-related entities. In the first quarter, Chainalysis reports assets worth about $1.3 billion were stolen from exchanges, DeFi platforms, and individuals. This is huge given that around $4.5 billion has been lost to the hacks since 2012 according to Rekt Database. Of these, the Ronin bridge attack is considered the largest crypto hack in history.
Meanwhile, Ronin Network continues to add security layers to its network to forestall similar future events. “Expect the bridge to be deployed by end of the month,” the company stated on its website. The firm is also promising a full post-mortem of events surrounding the hack in the future. Asides from this, Axie Infinity developer, Sky Mavis, has also raised $150 million to reimburse users who lost money to the hack.
On its part, a Treasury spokesperson confirmed that the department will publish crypto security guidelines in a bid to curtail such illegal activities.
