A Chinese trader helped the North Korea-linked hacker Lazarus Group launder millions of dollars’ worth of stolen cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT revealed in a post on X on Oct. 23 that Yicong Wang, a Chinese over-the-counter trader who operated under various aliases, assisted Lazarus Group in converting millions in stolen crypto into cash.
According to ZachXBT, blockchain data shows that since 2022, Wang has helped launder crypto through bank transfers. His OTC aliases include ‘Seawang’, ‘Greatdtrader’, and ‘BestRhea977’.
OTC trader worked with hacker group
ZachXBT’s investigation into Wang’s activities began only recently after a trader approached ZachXBT with information that his account had been frozen following a peer-to-peer transaction with Wang.
A Tron (TRX) wallet belonging to the suspect helped link Wang to a series of transactions involving illicit funds connected to the $4.5 million hack of Alex Labs. On-chain data also showed that the trader’s wallet address had ties to funds transfers related to several other hacks, including those involving Irys co-founder, EasyFi, Bondly, and Maverick.
Lazarus Group was behind the $4.3 million Alex Labs hack in May 2024 and the $1.3 million Irys co-founder $1.3 million hack in July 2024. Funds transferred to deposit addresses linked to the hackers ended up in Wang’s addresses. Wang helped commingle and bridge funds to Tron addresses in transactions that took place on August 13, 2024.
ZachXBT also reported that Tether blacklisted an Ethereum address holding 948,000 Ether (ETH) tied to Wang in August 2024.
“While Yicong Wang has been banned from Paxful and Noones on multiple accounts (Seawang/Greatdtrader/BestRhea977) for laundering funds he has since moved to conducting business offsite. It’s apparent from on-chain he has still been actively helping Lazarus Group within the past couple weeks,” ZachXBT said.
Lazarus Group and major crypto hacks
This is the latest exposé from ZachXBT, whose dedication to unmasking malicious actors in the crypto space has helped put multiple individuals on the radar of law enforcement. ZachXBT has also been at the forefront of efforts to recover stolen funds involving crypto hacks, rug pulls and ransomware attacks.
Meanwhile, the Lazarus Group has been linked to multiple high profile crypto hacks over the past few years, including the $625 million exploit of Ronin blockchain. The U.S Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigations have both highlighted the Pyongyang-linked hackers as one of the most devastating cybercriminals in the world.
In April this year, ZachXBT revealed that Lazarus Group had laundered more than $200 million from over 25 crypto hacks between 2020 and 2023.
