Things Started to Get Interesting in the Bybit Hack Incident: North Korean Hackers Launch Memecoin

Cryptocurrency detective ZachXBT has uncovered a bizarre incident in the recent Bybit hack, where the attacker laundered stolen Ethereum (ETH) via memecoins on PumpFun.

The attack, which resulted in the theft of approximately $1.5 billion worth of ETH, took an unexpected turn when the attacker used unconventional methods to move the funds. According to ZachXBT, one of the wallets associated with the hacker, 5STkQy…95T7Cq, transferred 60 SOL to another address called 9Gu8v6…aAdqWS. This wallet then launched a memecoin called QinShihuang (500000), which shockingly achieved a trading volume of over $26 million.

ZachXBT highlighted the incident, saying, “As if this year couldn’t get any weirder, there’s a wallet that laundered money from the Bybit hack and released a memecoin via PumpFun.”

Tracing the attacker’s movements, ZachXBT detailed how the funds from the Bybit attack were transferred across multiple blockchain networks. On February 22, the attacker moved $1.08 million to the 0x363908df2b0890e7e5c1e403935133094287d7d1 wallet, which then bridged USDC to the Solana network.

The EFmqz8PTTShNsEsErMUFt9ZZx8CTZHz4orUhdz8Bdq2 wallet bridged all USDC from Solana to Binance Smart Chain (BSC), distributing the funds across two addresses.

These BSC wallets split the USDC into over 30 different addresses before merging it into 0x0be9ab85f399a15ed5e8cbe5859f7a882c7b55a3.

Wallet 0x0be9 then distributed 106,000 USDC to ten BSC addresses before bridging it back to ten Solana addresses. ZachXBT noted that some of these addresses were “scrubbed by memecoin scammers,” meaning small amounts of tokens were sent to these addresses to establish transaction connections. The launderer then exchanged the memecoins for SOL, further complicating tracking efforts.

In response to the situation, PumpFun has removed the Lazarus-related memecoin from its frontend in an effort to prevent further illegal activity.

*This is not investment advice.