title: The Bybit hack attempts to launder funds through pump.fun memecoin platform

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says the industry needs a new selling point now that memecoins are losing mindshare.

Crypto asset management firm Bitwise's chief investment officer says the industry needs a new selling point now that memecoins are losing mindshare.

In a new interview with crypto influencer Scott Melker, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says that North korean hacking group Lazarus attempting to launder funds from the Bybit hack through memecoin platform pump.fun was not a good look for the asset class.

"The killer piece there was that [Lazarus] tried to launder the funds... I think that spells the sort of existential death of the meme coin craze. If you have MELANIA and you have LIBRA and then you have it being used as a laundering facility, even in this permissive regulatory environment, people are not going to look favorably on North hackers finding a way to launder stolen [funds]. That’s not going to do well so I think there’s going to be real pressure on the memecoin space. I think that’s why you’ve seen Solana pull back so much and sort of lead us down this path."

Lazarus Group stole nearly $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH) and Lido Staked Ether (stETH) from Bybit last week. According to Hougan, crypto investors now need a new narrative to rally around, potentially in decentralized finance (DeFi) or stablecoins.

"Outside of Bitcoin, the only real story that was sort of present and easily felt over the last six months [and] was positive was the memecoin story. It was injecting capital into the market, it was injecting energy into the market, and I think people are riding that effectively to zero right now and as a result, we need another story outside of Bitcoin. I think those stories exist, I think you can see green shoots in DeFi,I think you can see green shoots in stablecoin growth, but they aren't as present and as vibrant as meme=coins and I think the trio of Melania, Libra, and Lazarus through Bybit just means the story is basically over."

"Outside of Bitcoin, the only real story that was sort of present and easily felt over the last six months [and] was positive was the memecoin story. It was injecting capital into the market, it was injecting energy into the market, and I think people are riding that effectively to zero right now and as a result, we need another story outside of Bitcoin. I think those stories exist, I think you can see green shoots in DeFi,I think you can see green shoots in stablecoin growth, but they aren't as present and as vibrant as meme=coins and I think the trio of Melania, Libra, and Lazarus through Bybit just means the story is basically over."

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