US authorities returned 30 million dollars of cryptocurrency stolen from Axie Infinity

US authorities have returned $30 million in crypto stolen from Axie Infinity. A small part of the $625 million stolen, but a significant success for the community.

US authorities, with the help of blockchain analyst Chainalysis, were able to recover $30 million worth of cryptocurrencies stolen from Axie Infinity in March last year. This is only a fraction of the $625 million stolen from the play-to-earn game by the North Korean group known as Lazarus, but it is a significant achievement for the authorities and the crypto community. Chainalysis explains that this is the first time that cryptocurrencies stolen by a group of North Korean hackers have been recovered.

US authorities returned 30 million dollars of cryptocurrency stolen from Axie Infinity

As the analyst explains, groups linked to North Korea often use Tornado Cash to mine Ethereum, but US sanctions on the platform have forced them to look for alternative solutions. Now they use blockchain bridges to switch from one cryptocurrency to another and try to hide the source of funds as much as possible, and the analyst had the tools to track these cross-chain movements.

A small portion of the $625 million stolen

Apparently, most of the funds stolen from Axie Infinity are still on the blockchain, indicating that those responsible for this attack are having difficulty moving the stolen assets and converting them into fiat currency. Chainalysis appears to be confident that this is likely not the last time stolen assets are recovered from hackers in this way.

but significant success for the community

According to Bleeping Computer, information about the return of these funds was announced during the AxiCon event. The game’s publishers said that the money returned by the authorities will be gradually returned to the treasury of Axie Infinity, and then returned to the gaming community. However, the process will not be quick and may take several years.