North Korea-linked hackers use fake meme coins to launder NEAR

BeInCrypto reported that hackers tied to North Korea have created meme coins as a way to move stolen money. The scheme includes a coin featuring Elon Musk under a banner, yet the firm found no connection between Musk and the operation.

Roughly 117,000 NEAR, worth about $430,000, was laundered through six homemade tokens. The money stems from a $6.4 billion theft from Binance in October, which the FBI blamed on North Korea. Launching each fake token cost roughly $90, and the tokens were matched with NEAR inside liquidity pools, according to Elliptic.

Elliptic's findings also show that roughly 11.8 million stolen NEAR, valued at $43.7 million, remains untouched. The firm added that the meme coin route has handled under 1% so far. The analysis also found no wrongdoing by the token launch tool, the exchange or the wallet app.

Elliptic said exchanges should go back and recheck earlier deposits for links to the stolen funds. That recommendation points to the main step the firm sees next for exchanges.