Solana Faces Scrutiny as Lazarus Hacking Group Launders Stolen Funds Through Pump.fun Memecoin

Solana is catching some heat today and is under a bit of scrutiny following news of money laundering tied to the recent Bybit hack. According to ZachXBT, the hacking group has been laundering stolen funds by creating and trading a memecoin named QinShihuang on the Pump.fun platform. This token, launched with a mere 60 SOL transferred from the exploiter’s wallet, has already seen trades exceeding $4 million.

The Bybit hack marked the largest crypto theft in history, with nearly $1.5 billion in tokens—including liquid-staked Ether and other ERC-20 assets—stolen from the exchange. Industry experts, including on-chain analysts like ZachXBT and firms such as Arkham Intelligence, have pointed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group as the primary suspect behind this exploit. This group has amassed nearly $5 billion in stolen crypto over the past several years, making them the most prolific crypto hacking group. The connection between these hacks and the QinShihuang token scheme suggests a calculated effort to obscure stolen funds through memecoins.

Unveiling the Memecoin Money Laundering Scheme

At the heart of this scandal lies Pump.fun, a Solana-based launchpad launched in 2024 that has become a hotspot for memecoin creation. While the platform promises fast, low-cost token launches, it has drawn criticism for enabling scams, rug pulls, and even deaths. The Bybit hacker reportedly used Pump.fun to mint QinShihuang, leveraging the platform’s bonding curve model to inflate trading volume and obscure the origins of the stolen funds.

This incident underscores the growing risks of North Korean hacking groups exploiting blockchain ecosystems, particularly as memecoin mania continues to drive speculative trading on platforms like Pump.fun.