Greece recovers part of funds stolen in Bybit hack as its first crypto asset seizure

Greek authorities carried retired the country’s first-ever crypto seizure aft tracing funds linked to the record-breaking $1.4 cardinal hack of crypto speech Bybit earlier this year.

The Hellenic Anti-Money Laundering Authority issued a freezing bid connected a fishy wallet pursuing a months-long probe aided by blockchain analytics steadfast Chainalysis.

The cognition targeted funds allegedly stolen successful February’s Bybit breach, which has been wide attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

The Bybit hack, which ranks among the largest crypto speech breaches successful history, saw attackers exploit vulnerabilities successful the platform’s backstage cardinal absorption systems to drain astir $1.4 cardinal worthy of Ethereum (ETH).

The stolen funds were rapidly laundered done an intricate web of blockchain transactions designed to obscure their origins, making betterment efforts challenging for planetary authorities.

The Greek seizure marked a milestone for section instrumentality enforcement successful integer transgression prevention. It was made imaginable by the Authority’s strategical concern successful Chainalysis Reactor successful 2023, a blockchain tracing level procured done determination spouse Performance Technologies.

The section exertion supplier besides provided analysts with grooming and operational enactment up of the case. Using Reactor, Greek investigators tracked suspicious crypto transactions that yet linked a fishy wallet to the archetypal Bybit theft.

Officials past froze the assets, removing power from illicit actors and transferring the lawsuit to prosecuting authorities for further ineligible action.

Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Greece’s Minister of Economy and Finance, hailed the seizure arsenic a objection of modern tools strengthening anti-financial transgression efforts.

Analysts said the palmy seizure underlines however blockchain’s nationalist ledger tin assistance planetary instrumentality enforcement contempt blase laundering tactics employed by groups similar Lazarus, which has targeted crypto exchanges worldwide to money North Korea’s weapons programs.

Chainalysis described the lawsuit arsenic impervious that combining technology, training, and planetary practice tin erode transgression anonymity and bolster spot successful integer plus markets.

The station Greece recovers portion of funds stolen successful Bybit hack arsenic its archetypal crypto plus seizure appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.