The crypto has just experienced its breakage of the century. On February 21, Bybit, one of the giants of the centralized exchanges, was siphoning $ 1.4 billion. But the real shock resides elsewhere: in a week, hackers have already laundered $ 605 million from Ether. Unheard of. Behind this feat, a dreaded actor: the Lazarus group, armed arm of North Korea. An unexpected tool at the heart of the scandal: Thorchain, the interchained protocol yet adored by degens.
Thorchain, Trojan Horse despite himself
Thorchain did not steal his reputation. With its interchaînes without KYC, the protocol embodies the decentralized ideal. But today, he is suffocating under criticism. Bybit hackers have used its liquidity pools to disperse 270,000 ETH – or 54 % of the loot. Result: a record volume of $ 1 billion in 48 hours, and a burning question. Has Privacy become the number 1 public enemy?
However, the protocol tried to react. Three validators voted to block transactions linked to Lazarus.
Too late, one of the key developers threw the sponge. “I will no longer contribute,” he said on Xdisgusted. A symbolic departure, revealing a fracture: can we reconcile privacy and fight against organized crime?
Worse, the founder John-Paul Thorbjornsen boot in touch. “No sanctioned address has interacted with Thorchain,” he says. A low argument in the face of obviousness: hackers have exploited the speed of the protocol, faster than detection tools. Thorchain is not guilty, but accomplice by ingenuity.
North Korea vs. FBI: The Shadow War is played in crypto
The Lazarus group is no longer even hidden. With Bybit, Pyongyang signs its biggest blow since the hacking of the South Korean space agency. But this time, the stake is planetary. The FBI goes up to the niche: “Cut the bridges with Lazarus!” ». Mission Impossible? Crypto transactions, by nature transnational, challenge borders.
The North Korean strategy is formidable. By whitening via Thorchain, Lazarus proves his mastery of technical and psychological faults.
Who would suspect an open-source protocol to serve money for money for an authoritarian diet? However, the figures speak: $ 605 million evaporated in seven days. A record that ridicules traditional anti-flary “solutions”.
But the real bomb is elsewhere. TCB, Validator of Thorchain, threatens to withdraw if the protocol does not block North Korean flows. Can the clash of cultures summarize: can the DEFI survive if it has to obey state injunctions? The FBI requires censorship. The purists shout at heresy. Meanwhile, hackers laugh despite the collapse of Bitcoin.
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