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Binance and Huobi Freeze $1.4M in Crypto Tied to Harmony Bridge Theft
Tracing firm Elliptic said it followed the money through Tornado Cash.
By Danny Nelson
Updated May 9, 2023, 4:08 a.m. Published Feb 15, 2023, 12:48 a.m.
Crypto exchanges Binance and Huobi on Tuesday froze $1.4 million in crypto tied to the Harmony Bridge heist and its alleged North Korean hackers, according to crypto tracing firm Elliptic.
In a blog post, Elliptic said it provided intelligence to the two exchanges that prompted them to freeze accounts. It said it traced the funds back to the $100 million hack of a “bridge” that allowed Harmony blockchain users to move crypto assets between different ecosystems.
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Binance and Huobi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federal investigators have credited North Korea’s infamous hacker wing the Lazarus Group with attacking the bridge as part of their multi-year campaign to steal hundreds of millions of crypto dollars from exchanges and infrastructure. That campaign funds North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, investigators have said.
Read more: North Korea Crypto Theft Hit Record High Last Year, UN Says: Reuters
Elliptic further claimed it followed the now-frozen Harmony funds through Tornado Cash, the privacy-focused mixing service that purports to hide one’s tracks on the public Ethereum ledger. The U.S. sanctioned Tornado Cash because of its alleged use by North Korean hackers.
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