• Several addresses identified to belong to North Korean hackers showed activity sparking market speculations. 

  • The trades were carried out in the HyperLiquid blockchain.

The crypto community has hit a snag as prices have fallen to monthly lows in the past week. Bitcoin has receded to its $90K zone after reaching new all-time highs, again, in the same week. Meanwhile, leading altcoins such as Ethereum and Solana have also begun to drop. On the other hand, DOGE has shown minor surges propelled by Elon Musk’s latest tweet. 

In the recent past, news of cryptocurrency hacks has not been received. However, recent activity has spurred doubt within the community. A particular community member, ‘Crypto Tay’ (@tayvano_) reported that known North Korean hackers’ wallet addresses have shown recent activity. 

According to their report, the North Korean hackers traded for a loss of more than $700,000 on the HyperLiquid blockchain. This has led to some unrest amid existing FUD as prices drop and markets liquidate. The hackers were observed to have made transactions for which ‘Crypto Tay’ seemed to have approached the HyperLiquid team. 

Several community members also responded stating that such activity suggests that the hackers might be familiarizing themselves with the platform. They further speculated that it might lead to attacks from North Korean hackers in the coming days. However, the Hyperliquid team has not commented on the issue. 

Are North Korean Hacking Groups the Dominating Force in Crypto Scams? 

In the past years, several cryptocurrency scams have been reported which were later found to have ties with the North Korean group, Lazarus. Recently, crypto investigator ZachXBT uncovered a major North Korean hackers’ network holding employment in US crypto firms. 

Moreover, the past year’s largest hack WazirX was also briefly speculated to have been performed by the Lazarus group. This and other instances have shown black-listing of entities and wallets that exhibit ties with hackers relating to the particular region within the crypto community. 

Recently, in November, the South Korean government reported that the 2019 Upbit hack was connected to North Korean hackers.