Changpeng Zhao, the Chief Executive Officer of Binance, a crypto exchange, has revealed on Twitter that the marketplace has recovered nearly 6 million USD in virtual assets from the North-Korea-linked Axie Infinity exploit. The executive adds that the entire recovered assets spread across 86 user wallets.

Play-to-Earn virtual asset sidechain, Axie Infinity declared historic assets exploit on its network, nearing about 624 million USD. During investigations, security professionals from the United States said they traced the receiving wallets for the hack to a notorious cybercrime group led by “Lazarus.”

Different public organizations in the US have severally issued warnings to financial services organizations within the country within the blockchain network. A major part of the alerts which the agencies shared during the week included warnings against threats from hackers based in North Korea.

Lazarus and his group aren’t the only crew under the radar of US security agencies. Reports also confirm that several other exploit crews enjoy the support of the North Korean government. US cybersecurity intelligence experts say that the rogue groups target different organizations in the virtual assets industry, including exchanges, gaming software, and virtual assets marketplaces.

US cybersecurity intelligence experts say that the authoritarian leadership of North Korea’s utilizing the exploited funds in sponsoring its project on boosting its nuclear weaponry.

Last year, a hacking group linked to North Korea reportedly exploited over $400 in digital assets after executing a series of hacks. Exploiters from the Asian dictatorship regime reportedly depend on DeFi mixers in carting away virtual assets from targets.

New Study Discovers that Cryptocurrency Investors’ Profit Grew by 400% to $163b Last Year

All the facts say that last year was the strongest for cryptocurrency, yet newer countries, organizations, and businesses adopted virtual assets to make payments. One of the reports that attest to that is the new study by Chainalysis, which revealed a record annual profit for crypto investors in 2021, at $ 163b.

The figures by the crypto statistics firm said investors’ gains last year were 40 times more than in 2020. Investors in the US led the list of top-earning countries with about 47 billion USD in total earnings. Behind the US are the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and China in the top five on the list.

Due to increased clampdowns on cryptocurrency mining and exchange in China, the Asian nation reportedly made a lower jump in its national earnings in 2021 at 194%. However, the jump in investors’ earnings in China is still significant, considering the industry’s government regulations.

Realized profits refer to profits that industry players make from selling financial assets, including crypto, a stock market item, or any other commodity tradable in the industry’s framework or marketplaces.

The same source also reveals that cryptocurrency investors gained the most from Ethereum ($76 billion), slightly surpassing their counterparts trading BTC (about $75 billion) in the addressed year. Both ETH and BTC set new records when they reached an all-time high in value last November.