OKX Pauses its DEX Aggregator After Discovering Lazarus Group was Attempting to Misuse its Services

On March 17, OKX paused its decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator after discovering that the North Korean hacking group Lazarus was attempting to misuse its services.

On March 17, OKX announced the temporarypause of its decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator. The move follows an internal review and system upgrade, aiming to optimize the platform's performance and introduce new security features.

The exchange is also rolling out new tagging capabilities on its blockchain explorer to improve the completeness of token tagging, which had been the subject of recent scrutiny from European Union (EU) financial regulators.

Earlier this month, still unnamed EU financial regulators began probing OKX’s DEX aggregator and broader Web3 wallet services in a case that is still unfolding, according to a March 11 report by Bloomberg. The report also stated that a significant portion of the funds stolen from Bybit in a major March 7 hack were allegedly laundered through OKX’s Web3 service.

The crypto exchange has since pushed back against the claims, arguing that they are part of a broader time of heightened scrutiny for exchanges.

What happened: Bybit CEO Ben Zhou claimed that nearly $100 million of the $1.4 billion stolen in the hack was funneled through OKX’s Web3 service, with some funds now untraceable.

However, OKX has denied this, arguing that the report is “incomplete and misleading.” The exchange stated that it took action as soon as the Bybit hack was discovered, freezing any associated funds on its own centralized exchange (CEX) and introducing new detection measures for such instances.

To further strengthen its security protocols, OKX has introduced a “hacker address detection system” for its DEX aggregator. This new tool allows the exchange to rapidly identify and block known hacker addresses on its centralized exchange in a swift manner.

The crypto exchange is also rolling out new tagging capabilities on its blockchain explorer to optimize the completeness of token tagging, which had been the subject of recent scrutiny from EU financial regulators.

What happened: Earlier this month, EU financial regulators began an investigation into OKX’s DEX aggregator and broader Web3 wallet services, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report also stated that a significant portion of the funds stolen from Bybit in a major March 7 hack were allegedly laundered through OKX’s Web3 service.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou claimed that nearly $100 million of the $1.4 billion stolen in the hack was funneled through OKX’s Web3 service, with some funds now untraceable.

However, OKX has denied this, arguing that the report is “incomplete and misleading.” The exchange stated that it took action as soon as the Bybit hack was discovered, freezing any associated funds on its own centralized exchange (CEX) and introducing new detection measures for such instances.

To further strengthen its security protocols, OKX has introduced a “hacker address detection system” for its DEX aggregator. This new tool allows the exchange to rapidly identify and block known hacker addresses on its centralized exchange in a swift manner.

Its statement reads: “We are temporarily pausing our DEX aggregator to address incomplete tagging on blockchain explorers while we also roll out new security features. This is to address the recent coordinated attacks by media along with unsuccessful efforts by Lazarus group to misuse our DeFi services.”

The exchange also announced that the new generation of cryptocurrency wallet services will still be available during the suspension period. But the creation of new wallets will be temporarily restricted in some markets.

The crypto exchange is also rolling out new tagging capabilities on its blockchain explorer to optimise the completeness of token tagging, which had been the subject of recent scrutiny from European Union (EU) financial regulators.

Earlier this month, still unnamed EU financial regulators began probing OKX’s DEX aggregator and broader Web3 wallet services in a case that is still unfolding, according to a March 11 report by Bloomberg.

The report also stated that a significant portion of the funds stolen in the Bybit hack were allegedly laundered through OKX’s Web3 service.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou claimed that nearly $100 million of the $1.4 billion stolen in the hack was funneled through OKX’s Web3 service, with some funds now untraceable.

But the crypto exchange has pushed back against the claims, arguing that they are part of a broader time of heightened scrutiny for exchanges.

What happened: Bybit CEO Ben Zhou claimed that nearly $100 million of the $1.4 billion stolen in the hack was funneled through OKX’s Web3 service, with some funds now untraceable.

However, OKX has denied this, arguing that the report is “incomplete and misleading.” The exchange stated that it took action as soon as the Bybit hack was discovered, freezing any associated funds on its own centralized exchange (CEX) and introducing new detection measures for such instances.

To further strengthen its security protocols, OKX has introduced a “hacker address