Bybit Loses $1.5M to North Korea's Lazarus Group - How the Hack Happened, and Why They Used THORChain

Recapping how Bybit lost $1.5M to North Korea's Lazarus Group—how did it happen, and why did they use THORChain to launder the money?

The cryptocurrency landscape continues to be a whirlwind of activity, with major hacks, memecoin mania, and institutional shifts shaping the ecosystem. In this week's episode of The Chopping Block, crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner dissect the biggest stories and provide their insights.

As the dust settles on the staggering $1.5 billion heist from Bybit, allegedly perpetrated by North Korea's Lazarus Group, the focus shifts to the brazen use of THORChain for money laundering. The episode delves into how the attack unfolded, exploiting Gnosis Safe's front end rather than Bybit itself, and the implications of the Lazarus Group's choice of THORChain for laundering the stolen funds. Despite protests from the THORChain community, some members expressed amusement at the massive volume increase in the blockchain.

Meanwhile, Ethereum is facing an identity crisis at ETH Denver, with the Ethereum Foundation's announcement of a "Silviculture Society" and plans to fund "elite antisocial behavior" sparking reactions across the ecosystem. Hayden Adams, co-founder of Uniswap, sums up the absurdity, stating, "This is peak Ethereum dysfunction."

In a surprising turn, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped its investigations into Consensys, Uniswap, and OpenSea, signaling a potential shift in the regulator's approach to crypto. This follows a year-long war on crypto that saw the SEC sue several major figures in the industry, including Richard Heart, whose case has now been dismissed by a judge.

The episode also touches upon the concept of Hyperliquid, a new initiative focused on providing extreme levels of liquidity to DeFi protocols, and its potential implications for the crypto market.

Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or your favorite podcast platform.

Show Highlights

* Recap of the $1.5 billion hack from Bybit by Lazarus Group, the largest crypto heist ever.

* How the attackers exploited Gnosis Safe's front end to steal the funds.

* Lazarus Group's use of THORChain to launder the stolen money and the reactions from the community.

* Memecoins are declared collectibles by the SEC, and the memecoin bubble bursts as token launches decline and pump.fun dries up.

* Alex Jones supporters outbid The Onion for InfoWars.com in a bankruptcy auction using the War token.

* Ethereum Foundation's 'Silviculture Society' and plans to fund 'elite antisocial behavior' at ETH Denver.

* Community backlash and reactions to the EF's announcement.

* SEC drops investigations into Consensys, Uniswap, and OpenSea.

* Judge dismisses SEC lawsuit against HEX founder Richard Heart.

* Introduction to Hyperliquid and its potential implications for DeFi.

Hosts

*Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly

*Robert Leshner, CEO & Co-founder of Superstate

*Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures

*Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly

Disclosures

This episode of The Chopping Block is brought to you by Dragonfly and Superstate. Dragonfly is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage blockchain companies and crypto tokens. Superstate is a new company that is focused on providing extreme levels of liquidity to DeFi protocols.

Both Dragonfly and Superstate are committed to supporting the growth and development of the cryptocurrency industry. They believe that blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize many industries and improve people's lives.

Dragonfly and Superstate are also both interested in exploring the legal and regulatory landscape of crypto, and they are eager to engage in conversations with policymakers about how to create a favorable environment for the industry to thrive.

In addition to their investments, Dragonfly and Superstate are also involved in several initiatives to support the crypto community. For example, Dragonfly launched the Dragonfly Open Network (DON), a grant program that provides funding to promising crypto projects.

Superstate is focused on launching Hyperliquid, an initiative to provide decentralized protocols with extreme levels of liquidity, aiming to increase market depth and improve price stability.

Both firms are passionate about crypto and believe in its potential to change the world for the better. They are excited to see what the future holds for the industry and they are eager to continue to play a role in its development.