North Korean Hacker Group Lazarus Has Stolen Nearly $5 Billion in Crypto Over the Years

North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group has made a name for itself for when it comes to cybercrime, pulling off a string of cryptocurrency heists over the years that near $5 billion in today’s market value.

Tied to Pyongyang’s shadowy regime, this hacking crew has spent years targeting exchanges, wallets, and blockchain bridges with precision, turning digital theft into a high-stakes windfall. What began as relatively small grabs in the early days of crypto has morphed into a sprawling fortune, riding the rollercoaster of crypto prices from modest beginnings to astronomical gains, even as some of their loot took a dive over time.

The story starts back in 2017 when Lazarus first flexed its muscles, hitting the Bithumb crypto exchange and snagging a mix of Bitcoin and Ethereum that ballooned in value as the market soared. That same year, they struck Youbit exchange and Nicehash mining, pocketing Bitcoin hauls that grew into massive paydays thanks to the crypto boom. By 2018, they set their sights on Coincheck exchange, walking away with a fortune in NEM that later crashed hard, proving not every score aged well. The North Korean group didn’t let up, and in 2022, they hit Axie Infinity, scooping up Ethereum and USDC in a heist that still echoes the gaming space. Harmony’s Horizon Bridge fell next, followed by Atomic Wallet and CoinsPaid in 2023, with Stake.com joining the victim list later that year, each attack adding to their growing tally.

The pressure stayed on into 2024 and 2025. WazirX, an Indian exchange, got hammered in July 2024, losing a hefty chunk of Shiba Inu, Ethereum, and other tokens in a raid that left the platform reeling. Japan’s DMM Bitcoin wasn’t spared either, coughing up a Bitcoin stash in May that’s since climbed in worth. Then, just days ago in February 2025, Bybit exchange took a brutal hit, with Lazarus swiping $1.5 billion of Ethereum. Together, all these thefts showcase the group’s relentless drive and uncanny knack for cashing in on crypto’s wild swings, pushing their total haul to nearly $5 billion when measured in today‘s values.

Breaking Down the Numbers

To really wrap your head around Lazarus’s looting spree, the table below spells out each major hack, showing what they grabbed back then and what it’s worth now. Early wins like Bithumb stand out as monster gains, while Coincheck’s NEM flop tells a different tale.

The grand totals—over $3.5 billion stolen at the time, now worth nearly $5 billion and counting—lay bare a chilling reality: this isn’t just petty theft; it’s a giant operation bankrolling a rogue state, with their eyes focused on crypto.