Treasury Sanctions North Korean Hacker Group, Confirms Ties to $625M Theft

Hackers stole $625 million last month from the Ronin Network, a sidechain used for play-to-earn game Axie Infinity

article-image

Blockworks Exclusive art by axel rangel

share

key takeaways

  • US Treasury department alleges that North Korea-based Lazarus Group is behind the theft
  • Ronin is still in the process of recovering funds, it said

The Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned Lazarus Group, the North Korea-based hacker the US Department of the Treasury claims is responsible for the $625 million Ronin Bridge hack in March. 

On Thursday, the Treasury department announced that the ethereum address, which wallet profiler Nansen has labeled “Ronin Bridge Exploiter,” allegedly behind the hack was added to the Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons List (SDN). 

Ronin Network, an Ethereum-linked sidechain used for blockchain gaming group Axie Infinity, was breached in late March for roughly $600 million, or 173,600 ether, and $25.5 million USDC. 

At time of publication, the wallet address holds $445.3 million, according to Etherscan. The hackers have been moving funds around since the breach occurred, data shows. 

The exploiter used hacked private keys to forge withdrawals on March 23, according to a statement from Ronin at the time. The breach was discovered nearly a week after the hack when a user was unable to withdraw 5,000 ETH.

The hackers tried to sell about 6,500 stolen ETH in March, transferring the tokens to three different exchanges, according to William Quigley, co-founder of stablecoin Tether and non-fungible token (NFT) blockchain platform WAX. All of the stolen USDC was transferred out to various wallets and DeFi protocols, Etherscan data shows.

Earlier this month, Sky Mavis, the company behind the Ronin Network bridge, announced it had raised $150 million to help reimburse affected users. And in a blog post, Axie Infinity admitted it had “made some trade-offs” that enabled the hack to take place. 

Data shows that more than 3,000 ETH, or about $9.9 million, was moved from the wallet Wednesday into another address that then transferred the ETH in increments of 100 to several different wallets. 

“We are still in the process of adding additional security measures before redeploying the Ronin Bridge to mitigate future risk,” representatives from Ronin wrote in a community update post on Thursday. “Expect the bridge to be deployed by end of month.”


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
  • Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research

article-image

Solana Foundation’s former head of strategy proposes increasing the disinflation rate

article-image

With much of the bitcoin mining supply chain based in Asia, US-based operations now face higher equipment prices

article-image

Anticipating an economic downturn, venture firms may be less likely to invest

article-image

Trump’s tariffs may have potentially significant impacts on GDP, household spending and food prices — if they hold

article-image

The Binance-affiliated stablecoin lost about $200M of market capitalization

article-image

How the Bitcoin conversation has evolved since the price was less than $1