Norway’s central unit for fighting economic crimes has seized some of the crypto assets that hackers stole from the Ronin Network, an Ethereum (ETH)-linked sidechain made for the blockchain game Axie Infinity (AXS).
In March, attackers believed to be from the North Korean cybercriminal organization Lazarus group hacked the private keys of the Ronin bridge and stole 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5 million USD Coin (USDC) worth over $600 million.
In a statement, the Økokrim (Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime) says it seized $5.84 million of the stolen assets during the course of its investigation with crypto tracing specialists from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Økokrim says it is the largest amount of cryptocurrency that the Norwegian police have seized to date.
“Økokrim has over time been working to trace the proceeds from the theft. Økokrim and its international partners have monitored the money laundering process around the clock.
This has made it possible for Økokrim to trace a lot of the money and hamper the laundering process for the hackers.”
The Økokrim says it will work with Sky Mavis, the company behind Axie Infinity, to ensure that the recovered funds will be returned to the victims.
The agency also says it will continue to track the hackers’ money laundering operation to prevent the stolen cryptocurrency from being converted into fiat money, which could be used to fund North Korea’s nuclear program.
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