CoinDCX Initiates $11 Million Bounty Following $44 Million Theft Linked to Lazarus Group

By: Eva Baxter

The Indian cryptocurrency exchange, CoinDCX, recently fell victim to a major security breach involving a $44 million exploit. The attack has been attributed to North Korea's notorious hacking collective, the Lazarus Group, known for its sophisticated and coordinated operations in the crypto sphere. The breach involved unauthorized access to internal accounts used for liquidity provisioning, followed by fund transfers primarily utilizing cross-chain bridges from Solana to Ethereum. The attackers successfully laundered the digital assets through Tornado Cash, a mixing service, leaving a complex trail intended to obfuscate the stolen funds' activity.

CoinDCX, determined to recover the lost funds and prevent further incidents, has launched a significant bounty initiative. On July 21, the exchange announced an ambitious bounty program, offering up to 25% of any recovered funds to incentivize white-hat hackers, researchers, and blockchain firms. This means that if the hacking efforts prove successful, the bounty could reach a total of $11 million, providing significant motivation for cybersecurity professionals globally to engage in tracking and recovery operations.

CoinDCX CEO, Sumit Gupta, highlighted the safeguard of user assets, assuring that no customer funds were compromised as the attack was isolated within internal accounts. He emphasized the initiative is not just targeted at fund recovery but also at identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators. Describing the attack's graveness, Gupta mentioned that the company's response underlines the need for heightened security measures across the crypto industry to prevent similar incidents and protect user assets from such sophisticated threats.

In coordination with several cybersecurity entities like Sygnia and Seal911, and platforms such as Solana and Wormhole, CoinDCX is actively pursuing measures to trace and potentially freeze the unlawfully acquired assets. This case underscores the continuous threat posed by well-backed state-sponsored hacking groups and heightens the call for stronger cyber defenses in the cryptocurrency sector. More detailed insights on the incident can be found through analyses offered by leading security firms and through ongoing updates from the CoinDCX platform.