Overview

• The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation has linked the theft of £16.8 million in Bitcoin, Ethereum and other assets from UK-registered exchange Lykke to DPRK cyberactors tied to the Lazarus Group.
• The Treasury declined to reveal the intelligence behind its attribution, prompting experts to question whether open blockchain forensics can definitively identify the perpetrators.
• Lykke was ordered into liquidation in March after more than 70 customers filed a winding-up petition; Interpath Advisory is now distributing remaining assets to creditors.
• Founder Richard Olsen was declared bankrupt in January and faces criminal investigations by Swiss authorities over the exchange’s collapse.
• Ongoing probes are tracing alleged laundering through unregulated crypto services, underscoring a broader pattern of North Korea-linked thefts used to evade sanctions and fund weapons programs.