While cryptocurrency enthusiasts were still reeling from the largest hack in history, North Korea’s Lazarus Group wasn’t content to simply sit on their $1.5 billion Bybit heist. Instead, they got creative – launching meme coins on Solana’s Pump.fun platform.
Because apparently, when you steal billions, the logical next step is to create joke tokens named after ancient Chinese emperors. The hackers’ QinShihuang token started with a modest 50 SOL investment (about $8,000) before exploding to a $3 million market cap. Not bad for a day’s work. The scheme leveraged extreme price volatility typical of meme coins to obscure their activities.
From billion-dollar heists to emperor-themed meme coins – North Korean hackers prove crime pays, even in crypto’s wildest corners.
But here’s where it gets interesting: they mixed legitimate market activity with stolen funds, making it harder to trace the ill-gotten gains. Classic money laundering, just with more dog pictures and rocket emojis. The market showed concerning signs with low liquidity levels reported. Analysis revealed that wash trading accounted for nearly 95% of trading volume on unregulated exchanges.
The same group didn’t stop there. They launched multiple meme coins, including one ironically named “Lazerus” – subtle, guys. Real subtle. The funds bounced between more than 920 addresses before being swapped for SOL and sent back to North Korea.
This comes just months after their $29 million Phemex hack, suggesting these state-sponsored hackers have developed quite a taste for crypto mischief.
Meanwhile, the broader meme coin market continues its wild ride, swinging from $8 billion to $103 billion since 2021. It’s a playground of manipulation tactics: wash trading, spoofing, bear raiding – the whole circus.
Traders create false impressions of high volume while spreading FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) faster than a viral cat video.
Regulators are finally catching up. The SEC withdrew its Coinbase lawsuit and restructured its crypto division, while Hester Peirce pushes for more collaborative policies.
But for now, the meme coin market remains the Wild West of crypto – where stolen billions can disappear into a sea of cartoon tokens and emoji-filled whitepapers. Just another day in the increasingly bizarre world of cryptocurrency, where even master hackers apparently can’t resist the allure of launching their own meme coins.
