Økokrim, a branch of the Norwegian police, has announced the seizure of the equivalent of $6.06 million stolen by the Lazarus group in the Ronin bridge hack of the blockchain game Axie Infinity.
Økokrim recovers some of the funds stolen from Axie Infinity
Last year, the Ronin bridge hack dedicated to the Axie Infinity blockchain game shook the ecosystem by its magnitude. Indeed, the equivalent of $620 million was stolen at the time, and has since been carefully monitored.
While the attack was attributed to the North Korean hacker group Lazarus, Økokrim, Norway’s economic and environmental crime unit, announced the seizure of almost 60 million Norwegian kroner, or $6.06 million.
The seizure follows international cooperation, including with the FBI. State Prosecutor Marianne Blender commented on the seizure:
Økokrim is good at following the money. This case shows that we also have a great ability to follow money on the blockchain, even if the criminals use advanced methods. […] This is money that can support North Korea and its nuclear weapons programme. So it’s been important to follow the cryptocurrency and try to stop the money when they try to withdraw it in physical values. “
A relatively small seizure nonetheless
While such a seizure is interesting, showing that it is possible to recover money stolen in a hack, at least in part, it is also a matter of putting the amounts into perspective. In the attack, 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC were stolen.
Even if we relate this amount to the current exchange rate, it is now equivalent to just over 313 million dollars. The $6.06 million recovered would then represent just 2% of the sum.
In a tweet, Axie Infinity co-founder Aleksander Larsen, himself Norwegian, thanked Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Binance for freezing the stolen funds and cooperating with Økokrim:
Norwegian Police @Okokrim just seized $6M from the @Ronin_Network $RON heist.
Thanks to @binance @cz_binance for acting fast and freezing the funds!https://t.co/j8V3uD8WMX
– Aleksander / Psycheout – Axie Infinity (@Psycheout86) February 16, 2023
All this cooperation, as well as the monitoring of the addresses involved, will therefore be necessary conditions for the next possible seizures of the stolen funds on the Ronin bridge.
