Over $35M Laundered from DMM Bitcoin Hack Through Huione Guarantee: Data

More than $35 million of the stolen funds from the $305 million DMM Bitcoin hack were laundered through Huione Guarantee, an online marketplace run by Cambodia’s Huione Group.

It is interesting to note that this platform is part of a company linked to the ruling family in Cambodia and has emerged as an important hub for illicit money in Southeast Asia, which is frequently used by criminal organizations, including pig slaughter gangs.

DMM Funds Hacking with Huione Assurance

Over the weekend, stablecoin issuer Tether took decisive action by blacklisting a wallet holding 29.6 million USDT on Tron, linked to Huione. male According to prominent investigator ZachXBT, nearly $14 million was flowed into this particular wallet from the DMM Bitcoin hack in just three days.

Suspicions point to North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group, known for similar money laundering techniques and off-chain indicators, which may be behind the attack.

ZachXBT further explained that the laundering route involves depositing Bitcoin from the hack into a mixer, withdrawing the tokens, tying the funds to Ethereum or Avalanche via platforms like THORChain, Threshold, and Avalanche Bridge, swapping for USDT, and finally tying the funds to Tron via SWFT before transferring to Huione.

It is worth noting that ZachXBT previously found that millions of dollars from the $31 million Fintech investment fraud scheme were directed to Huione.

Hoyon: A hub for cryptocurrency scammers, torture equipment?

Last week, crypto tracking firm Elliptic revealed the heavy use of Huione Guarantee — a peer-to-peer escrow and transaction collateral service that enables users to buy and sell via Telegram using the popular USDT stablecoin — by crypto scammers.

Elliptic estimates that the majority of transactions on Huione Guarantee, which primarily rely on public announcements in Chinese, support pig slaughter.

The market also offers a variety of products that aid in the scam, including equipment used to imprison and torture workers in the scam complexes. Advertisements often include items such as tear gas, electric batons, and electronic shackles, with references to controlling “runaway dogs” — a derogatory term for workers in these complexes.