The Wall Street Journal: The Hidden Crypto Money-Laundering Scheme: Who Is Helping North Korean Hackers Transfer Massiv… - 深潮TechFlow
After hackers stole over $6 billion from Binance in the largest crypto heist in history, decentralized protocols THORChain and Wasabi Wallet continue processing the stolen funds and collecting fees despite FBI warnings.
Last week, hackers executed the largest cyber heist in history, stealing more than $6 billion from cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reveals the perpetrators immediately launched an unprecedented money-laundering operation, dispersing the funds across over 10,000 crypto wallets to evade detection.
Despite warnings from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, several cryptocurrency services continue processing transactions related to the theft and collecting revenue from these operations. Nearly $3 billion of the stolen funds remains in the hands of the hackers.
Decentralized Services Facilitate Laundering
Chainalysis data shows THORChain processed over $46 million of the stolen Binance funds within 72 hours of the theft, collecting more than $200,000 in fees. The platform allows users to swap cryptocurrencies across different blockchains.
Wasabi Wallet, meanwhile, facilitated nearly $4 million in coin mixing during the same period. The wallet's function hides the source of funds when transferring Bitcoin, making transactions difficult to trace.
The biggest channel for North Korean money laundering is actually THORChain. They use the rhetoric of decentralization as cover, but in reality, it is highly centralized and generates substantial profits.
Regulatory Questions Emerge
The laundering operation has exposed a critical question within the crypto industry: when criminals exploit decentralized services, who bears responsibility? Traditional financial institutions are bound by anti-money laundering regulations, but the decentralized finance space largely remains unregulated.
THORChain's developers argue they cannot intervene when their protocols are exploited. The protocol does not have the ability to screen individual transactions or individual wallets; that code simply does not exist, said Chad Barraford, THORChain's US co-founder.
Critics question how truly decentralized these platforms are. Investors in a THORChain-based lending protocol have sued its founders, alleging they hold a master key that functions as an override switch for the protocol.
North Korean Connection
The FBI identifies North Korea as the perpetrator behind the Binance hack, though the country denies involvement. North Korean hackers have a longstanding record of using THORChain to convert stolen funds into Bitcoin.
After North Korean hackers stole $1.5 billion from Dubai-based exchange Bybit last year, they completed nearly $1 billion worth of trades through THORChain, generating at least $12 million in fees for the protocol's operators.
Despite the FBI's call over the weekend for cryptocurrency service operators to block activity related to the Binance hack, THORChain and Wasabi Wallet continue processing transactions. The future regulatory response to these decentralized services remains uncertain.
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