Liquid Global Hack 2021 — $97M Exploit Analysis

Japanese crypto exchange Liquid had hot wallets compromised across four blockchains, with Lazarus Group attribution.

Details

Full Description

Liquid Global's hot wallet infrastructure was breached across multiple blockchains simultaneously. The attackers moved swiftly across Ethereum, Bitcoin, XRP, and Tron holdings. Liquid suspended withdrawals and deposits. FTX provided $120M emergency loan post-hack. Blockchain analysis attributed the attack to North Korea's Lazarus Group.

Laundering Analysis

ETH and ERC-20 tokens converted to ETH via Uniswap and deposited into Tornado Cash. Bitcoin routed through multiple mixing services. XRP portion tracked by Ripple and partially frozen on exchanges. North Korean Lazarus Group's characteristic rapid multi-chain drain-and-mix pattern confirmed by multiple analytics firms.

Sources

Transaction Hashes

Related Hacks

Back to Browse