TLDR
- North Korea’s Lazarus Group accused of stealing $22.8 million from UK-registered crypto exchange Lykke
- The theft forced Lykke to halt operations and eventually shut down completely
- More than 70 customers filed legal action, claiming £5.7 million in losses
- UK Treasury and Israeli researchers linked the hack to North Korean state hackers
- Lykke founder Richard Olsen declared bankruptcy and faces criminal investigation in Switzerland
The UK-registered cryptocurrency exchange Lykke has permanently closed its doors following a devastating $22.8 million theft that British authorities attribute to North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group. The hack has left customers scrambling to recover lost funds through liquidation proceedings.
The UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, a division of the Treasury, directly blamed “malicious Democratic People’s Republic of Korea cyberactors” for the theft. According to their report, attackers stole funds on both the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks.
The Swiss-based platform was founded in 2015 by Richard Olsen, great-grandson of Swiss banking patriarch Julius Baer. Lykke operated from Switzerland’s “crypto valley” in Zug while maintaining its UK registration.
Lykke had built its reputation on a zero-fee trading model that attracted retail users. However, the platform was forced to suspend operations after the hack and officially ceased business in December 2023.
The Financial Conduct Authority had issued warnings about Lykke in 2023. They noted that the company was neither registered nor authorized to offer financial services to consumers in the United Kingdom.
Legal Fallout and Customer Response
More than 70 customers brought a winding-up petition in UK courts, claiming combined losses of £5.7 million from the company’s closure. The court ordered Lykke to be liquidated in March 2025.
Interpath Advisory was appointed to handle asset distribution during the liquidation process. The Swiss parent company also entered liquidation last year.
Olsen was declared bankrupt in January 2025. British legal filings indicate he now faces criminal investigations in Switzerland, though he has not responded to media requests for comment.
Attribution and Money Laundering
Whitestream, an Israeli cryptocurrency research organization, also accused Lazarus of responsibility for the Lykke hack. They tracked the stolen funds and claimed the attackers laundered the money through two cryptocurrency companies known for transaction obfuscation.
“They moved the funds using platforms that basically ignore money-laundering rules,” Whitestream stated. These mixers and unregulated exchanges made it difficult to follow the money trail.
Not all researchers agree with this attribution. Some dispute these conclusions, arguing that current evidence is insufficient to identify the exchange hackers with certainty.
If confirmed as a Lazarus Group operation, this would represent their largest crypto theft from any British target to date. The attack adds to a global trail of Lazarus-led raids that have reportedly netted Pyongyang billions.
Intelligence agencies believe North Korea uses these stolen funds to finance weapons development programs and evade international sanctions. The Lazarus Group has been linked to numerous high-profile cryptocurrency heists globally.
The group employs various techniques to breach exchange security and launder stolen funds through complex networks of digital transactions. This method of cyber theft has become an important revenue stream for the isolated nation.
The $22.8 million stolen from Lykke included Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies. Despite initial promises to return customer funds, the platform froze trading after the hack and never resumed operations.
The case highlights ongoing vulnerabilities in cryptocurrency platforms despite increased security measures across the industry. It also demonstrates how state-backed hackers continue to target digital assets as a funding mechanism.
As of the latest reports, investigations into the technical details of the hack continue. Meanwhile, former Lykke customers await the outcome of liquidation proceedings to determine how much, if any, of their funds might be recovered.
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Source: https://blockonomi.com/north-korean-hackers-accused-of-23m-theft-from-uk-crypto-exchange-lykke/