North Korea Laundered $150M in Stolen Crypto Through Tornado Cash: Reuters
North Korea laundered nearly $150 million in stolen cryptocurrencies through Tornado Cash in March, Reuters reported, citing data from United Nations sanctions monitors.
North Korean cybercriminals transferred $147.5 million in illicit funds to the privacy-preserving mixer in an attempt to evade law enforcement detection, according to a note submitted by the UN monitors to the U.S. Security Council sanctions committee on Friday.
The stolen funds originated from the HTX crypto exchange last year, as per the document reviewed by Reuters. Tornado Cash is a coin mixer that conceals the movement of cryptocurrencies by disconnecting the on-chain link between the source of a transaction and the recipient’s wallet address, thus complicating law enforcement efforts to trace the movement of illicit funds.
The U.N. sanctions monitors uncovered this money laundering activity last week during a broader investigation into cyber thefts connected to North Korea, Reuters reported. The monitors are examining 97 suspected North Korea-linked cyberattacks on crypto exchanges, which resulted in the theft of $3.6 billion between 2017 and 2024.
