The FBI helps recover millions of dollars stolen in Axie Infinity Hack. Norway’s National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crimes, or Økokrim, teamed up with the FBI to recover the stolen funds. Approximately $5.9 million has been recovered from hackers connected with the Axie Infinity Hack.
Millions in stolen crypto assets recovered by authorities after Axie Infinity hack.
For almost a year, Økokrim and the FBI have been investigating one of the largest attacks on Axie Infinity. Despite his attempt to collect, the hackers’ plan was thwarted due to timing. Since the recovery of the funds, the value of the AXS and RON tokens increased by 8% to $11 and 10% to $0.8788, respectively.
One of the largest crypto heists to date occurred in March 2022. Hackers looted the Ronin network, the host network for Axie Infinity. They stole $625 million worth of crypto assets at the time, including 174,000 ETH and 26 million USDC. The Axie Infinity hackers were able to access the network by finding a backdoor through Ronin’s gasless RPC node. Subsequently, they abused the Axie DAO validator.
He fbi connected The North Korean hacker group Lazarus at the hack of Axie Infinity. Reports suggest that the hackers planned to launder the stolen crypto assets, valued at $625 million. They therefore planned to use Tornado Cash, a US Treasury Department-sanctioned privacy scrambler. Since 2017, Lazarus and other North Korean exploiters have allegedly stolen up to $1 billion worth of crypto assets.
However, since the Axie Infinity hack, the FBI and Økokrim have actively investigated and tracked the stolen assets. They successfully prevented hackers from laundering the money. Authorities successfully recovered millions of stolen assets and prevented them from being used for other illicit activities. Overall, the international investigation was a great success, resulting in thwarting the hackers’ attempts to launder the stolen funds.
In a press release, Økokrim alleged that the hackers intended to use the stolen assets to finance North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Therefore, it was of paramount importance to track assets and prevent exploiters from contributing to the proliferation of massive weapons.
Recovery of Stolen Crypto Assets: A Significant Victory for All
Økokrim’s economic crime unit has announced that it will continue to monitor the hackers’ money laundering operation and will actively work to prevent exploiters from converting stolen assets into currency. Økokrim has yet to connect with Sky Mavis, the developer of Axie Infinity, to return the stolen cryptocurrencies to the victims.
However, Ronin underwent a major overhaul three months after the 2022 Axie Infinity hack. It is his hope to prevent similar breaches in the future. Today, the stolen assets have lost nearly 50% of value and are worth approximately $325 million.
The digital and anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies, among other factors, have made it difficult for authorities to recover stolen assets. However, the success of the FBI and Norwegian authorities in recovering millions in stolen crypto assets is a significant victory for all.
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