Binance Hack Update: North Korea Used Elon Musk’s Face to Launder Money

North Korea’s hackers have discovered a brand new use for meme cash. They are minting their very own, one exhibiting Elon Musk below an “Elon 2028 President” banner, to wash cash stolen from Binance, blockchain analytics agency Elliptic stated Monday.

Elliptic said Musk has no hyperlink to the tokens. About 117,000 NEAR Protocol (NEAR), price roughly $430,000 by Elliptic’s estimate, has handed via six selfmade tokens. Elliptic says exchanges that already accepted cash from these trades want to verify it once more.

$90 Meme Coin Hides Stolen Money

The cash comes from the $6.4 billion October theft that the FBI blamed on North Korea.

Each faux token price about $90 to launch. The launderers paired each one with NEAR in a liquidity pool, an automatic swap sales space on a decentralized change.

One group of wallets purchased the token with stolen NEAR. A second group offered it again and walked away with NEAR.

The cash by no means moved straight from thief to receiver. On the blockchain, the sellers regarded like fortunate merchants.

The costumes have been American. One emblem confirmed a duck earlier than a US flag. Another carried the Musk banner. Elliptic didn’t say which of the six tokens carried the Musk picture.

Can Exchanges Spot the Laundering?

Almost no person else touched the cash. Outsiders purchased a sliver of 1 token, below 1% of its buying and selling.

Each coin traded exhausting inside hours, then died. Profits from one paid for the following.

“It doesn’t cover the funds a lot as decelerate the folks tracing them,” learn an excerpt within the Elliptic weblog, citing Tom Robinson.

Launderers want to money out earlier than their wallets land on blocklists. The identical trick moved at the very least $24 million after the 2025 Bybit hack.

Why $430,000 May Be Only the Start

About 11.8 million stolen NEAR, price $43.7 million by Elliptic’s estimate, has not moved but. The meme coin route has to date dealt with lower than 1% of that pile.

Elliptic harassed that the launch device, the change, and the pockets app did nothing unsuitable. The launderers used them like some other buyer may.

That leaves the burden on whoever receives the cash. Elliptic says deposits that exchanges already cleared want a re-assessment as its blocklist grows.

The submit Binance Hack Update: North Korea Used Elon Musk’s Face to Launder Money appeared first on BeInCrypto.