Binance CEO says the crypto exchange seized $5.8 million from a North Korean network behind a recent $620 million Axie Infinity hack
Axie Infinity
- Crypto exchange Binance has recovered about $6 million stolen in March from Axie Infinity's Ronin Network.
- Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said part of the funds from the Axie hack made it into 86 accounts.
- The FBI said a North Korean-backed group was behind the $620 million crypto heist.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has recovered nearly $6 million from a North Korean group suspected to be behind a $620 million hack of the popular play-to-earn game Axie Infinity.
That's according to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who addressed the seizure in a Friday post on Twitter.
"The DPRK hacking group started to move their Axie Infinity stolen funds today. Part of it made to Binance, spread across over 86 accounts. $5.8M has been recovered," he wrote, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Zhao didn't specify names attached to the 86 accounts potentially involved in the crypto heist. But last week, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said hackers linked to the North Korea-backed Lazarus Group were behind the theft of $620 million in cryptocurrency from Axie Infinity.
Axie Infinity is a non-fungible token-based game that let players earn in-game currency that can be converted to real-world currency. In late March, hackers targeted Axie Infinity's blockchain project called Ronin Network which allowed users to transfer crypto in and out of the game.
Binance earlier this month led a $150 million funding round to restore some of the funds stolen in the hack, said Sky Mavis, the Vietnam-based developer behind Axie Infinity.
Axie Infinity earlier this year logged $4 billion in NFT sales and had more than 2.8 million players logging on every day.