North Korea launders funds from Binance hack via Elon Musk memecoins

Cybercriminals with links to North Korea are actively using memecoins featuring portraits of Elon Musk to legitimise funds extracted during a large-scale cyberattack on the Binance exchange. The total losses from this incident amount to $6.3 billion. To conceal the movement of assets, the hackers issue their own tokens and conduct operations that externally mimic standard market trading.

The role of the TraderTraitor group

Information about this scheme was provided by the analytics firm Elliptic, as reported by Gizmodo. Previously, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) determined that the digital asset theft, which occurred at the end of October, was carried out by the North Korea-linked hacker group TraderTraitor. Currently, members of this group are focused on masking the origin of the stolen funds.

Laundering mechanism via one-time tokens

The laundering process involves creating new tokens and buying and selling them through crypto wallets controlled by the criminals on decentralised exchanges. This approach allows the funds to pass through a series of transactions that appear as ordinary trading activity.

«Токени, які використовують для відмивання грошей, призначені для одноразового використання. Ніхто за межами цієї операції їх не купує, а їхню ціну визначають самі організатори» (The tokens used for money laundering are intended for one-time use. No one outside this operation buys them, and their price is determined by the organisers themselves), said Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson.

Activity on the NEAR network

It has been recorded that over three days, the hackers launched at least six memecoins on the NEAR blockchain. Among the issued assets were FUK, MEILI and SINU. The visual imagery of these tokens included an image of a monkey with a pink bow, as well as a portrait of Elon Musk with the inscription «Ілон — президент 2028» (Elon — President 2028).

Approximately $430,000 of stolen funds was processed through these specific assets. Despite this, the amount represents less than 0.01% of the total volume of the crime.