DWF Labs Allegedly Lost $44 Million in Hack Tied to North Korea’s AppleJeus

Market maker DWF Labs allegedly misplaced greater than $44 million in a 2022 cyberattack attributed to the North Korea-linked AppleJeus group.

The revelation comes amid an ongoing wave of state-sponsored assaults focusing on the crypto trade, with North Korean hacking teams putting a number of platforms over latest years. This highlights the sector’s ongoing vulnerability to refined cybersecurity threats.

Allegations Surface Linking DWF Labs to 2022 Cyberattack

In a latest publish on X (previously Twitter), an on-chain investigator highlighted a breach reportedly relationship again to September 2022. The report revealed that the unhealthy actors targeted the address 0x3d67fdE4B4F5077f79D3bb8Aaa903BF5e7642751, primarily stealing USDC and USDT stablecoins.

“The compromised handle (0x3d67f…) may be linked to DWF labs by the funds which have been made prior to the incident,” the analyst stated.

Before the compromise, the identical pockets had made transactions to Yield Guild Games’ treasury pockets, apparently for an OTC token sale. The acquired YGG tokens have been later despatched to an handle publicly associated with DWF Labs.

Another transaction to MagnifyCash (previously NFTY Finance) coincided with DWF Labs’ announcement of a strategic partnership with the venture on September 15, 2022.

According to the analyst, hackers started draining the handle 0x3d67fd on September 22, 2022. They allegedly compromised each non-public keys and change credentials.

“Despite the draining of funds lasting many hours (0:04:59AM – 5:59:11AM) seemingly no profitable try was made to cease the drain or save funds. There was one even one additional draining transaction the next day, twenty third Sep at 0:59:35AM” the analyst identified.

On-chain information confirmed the hackers moved the stolen property by means of the Ren Protocol bridge to Bitcoin (BTC). This laundering route is favored by AppleJeus. The BTC then remained largely dormant.

However, just lately, funds have been transferred by means of Mixero, a custodial Bitcoin mixer. Furthermore, the analyst famous that the stolen funds have been later mixed with proceeds from different high-profile breaches. This included these affecting Deribit and Tower Capital.

“There is are nonetheless a number of massive pots of BTC (now price over $30 million+) which stay unspent associated to this incident,” the publish added.

Despite allegations and on-chain proof from unbiased analysts, DWF Labs has not made any public statements concerning the alleged hack.

“DWF hiding a $44 million hack? Cannot say I’m stunned,” crypto sleuth ZachXBT commented.

Growing Threat of State-Sponsored Crypto Attacks

Meanwhile, the broader cryptocurrency trade continues to face escalating threats from state-sponsored actors. BeInCrypto previously reported that hackers linked to North Korea have stolen an estimated $2.83 billion in digital property between 2024 and September 2025.

In reality, the nation’s Lazarus Group was behind the trade’s largest breach, the Bybit hack. Beyond focusing on infrastructure, these menace actors have additionally tried to infiltrate Web3 firms by applying for jobs utilizing falsified identities.

More just lately, they have escalated their tactics by distributing malware by means of pretend job affords. Thus, as North Korean-linked teams proceed refining their techniques, crypto platforms face rising stress to strengthen safety and transparency throughout all operations.

The publish DWF Labs Allegedly Lost $44 Million in Hack Tied to North Korea’s AppleJeus appeared first on BeInCrypto.