Security News > 2022 > September > US recovers $30 million stolen from Axie Infinity by Lazarus hackers
With the help of blockchain analysts and FBI agents, the U.S. government seized $30 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen by the North Korean threat group 'Lazarus' from the token-based 'play-to-earn' game Axie Infinity earlier in the year.
"Chainalysis Crypto Incident Response team played a role in these seizures, utilizing advanced tracing techniques to follow stolen funds to cash out points and liaising with law enforcement and industry players to quickly freeze funds," the company reports.
The recent sanctions imposed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tornado Cash forced Lazarus to use alternatives for the remaining one-third of the stolen funds, using bridges between blockchains to obscure movements.
The total financial damage caused by Lazarus' Axie Infinity hack is estimated to be $620 million, so the recovered amount represents only about 5% of that value and 10% of the cryptocurrency amount.
The blow for Lazarus is still significant, as it signifies that stolen digital assets aren't easy to move around, launder, and eventually cash out into fiat money.
Chainalysis comments that most of the stolen funds from Axie Infinity remain unspent in cryptocurrency wallets, and the threat actor is running out of reliable options for cashing out.