Chainalysis Retrieves $30M From North Korean-Linked Ronin Bridge Hack

New York-based blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis announced that it has been able to recover about $30 million from all of the funds siphoned from Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network 

A large percentage of the stolen funds from this DeFi protocol trend is suspected to be linked with North Korean hackers like Lazarus Group which was discovered to be responsible for the attack on the Axie Infinity Ronin Network. 

Joining Axie Infinity’s Ronin protocol, which resumed operations weeks after it was hacked, at the Axiecon gathering, Chainalysis announced that;

“With the help of law enforcement and leading organizations in the cryptocurrency industry, more than $30 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen by North Korean-linked hackers has been seized. This marks the first time ever that cryptocurrency stolen by a North Korean hacking group has been seized, and we’re confident it won’t be the last.”

The report issued by Chainalysis expressly noted that in the last eight months of 2022, the total recorded successful hacks on DeFi protocol have led to the loss of over $1 billion in connection to North Korean hackers. Therefore the fund retrieved by the blockchain analysis firm is only about 3% of the total stolen funds.

Chainalysis Trace Axie Infinity Stolen Funds

Furthermore, the breach of the Axie Infinity Ronin bridge which caused a total loss of $625 million was analyzed to show the underlying effort of Chainanlysis in retrieving the fund. 

Per the published announcement, Chainalysis through its Crypto Response team played a pivotal role in the retrieval of the funds. Markedly, about 10% was retrieved by Chainalysis, taking into consideration the change in the price of the crypto between the time it was stolen and when it was finally retrieved.

The American firm utilized its advanced technology to trace the movement of the siphoned funds up to the point of withdrawal. In a similar manner, it worked hand-in-hand with law enforcement agencies and industry players to freeze the funds. Hence, Chainalysis encourages transparency and collaboration between both the private and public sectors to uncover many such cybercrimes. 

“Cryptocurrency’s transparency is instrumental to investigating hacks like the one suffered by Axie Infinity,” it stated, and “these seizures would not have been possible without collaboration across the public and private sectors.”