$5.9 million in stolen Axie Infinity crypto recovered from the hackers by Norwegian police

As of March 2022, up to $620 million was stolen from the North Korean hackers to be the greatest All time attack from the ronin bridge the Axe Infinity. The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed that the hack was linked to the Lazarus Group, a state-sponsored cybercrime organization in North Korea.

In a recent report by Økokrim, the national agency for the investigation and prosecution of economic and environmental crime was able to seize an additional $5.9 million (60 million kronor) in stolen funds by working with the FBI. According to prosecutor Marianne Bender, “This is the money that could support North Korea and its nuclear weapons program. Therefore it is important that cryptocurrency track and intercept the money when they try to turn it back into physical value.”

Prior to the seizure, the US government was also able to recover $30 million worth of stolen cryptocurrencies in September 2022. In this case, the hackers used Tornado Cash as their money laundering tool before it was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department.

Just earlier this month, the United Nations released that hackers linked to North Korea stole about $1 billion worth of crypto last year. Most attacks were carried out by groups controlled by the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea’s main intelligence agency. This group includes Lazarus, Andariel, and Kimsuky.