最新报道：According to Bijie.com, the notorious North Korean Lazarus Group has been accused of orchestrating a $22.8 million cryptocurrency heist that crippled the UK-registered exchange Lykke, forcing its closure and triggering investor lawsuits. The UK Treasury's sanctions office linked the state-sponsored hacking group to the theft of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other assets from Lykke, a Switzerland-based platform once lauded for its zero-fee trading model. The closure further escalates a wave of global attacks led by Lazarus that have funneled billions of dollars to Pyongyang to fund its weapons programs and evade sanctions, and has left Lykke founder Richard Olsen facing bankruptcy, liquidation proceedings, and ongoing legal scrutiny in Switzerland. UK Treasury officials have linked cyber operatives from the Hermit Kingdom to the massive theft, which ultimately forced the exchange to shut down. According to The Telegraph, Pyongyang has targeted digital asset platforms worldwide, generating billions of dollars in stolen funds to circumvent international sanctions and fund its weapons development programs. Richard Olsen, the great-grandson of Swiss banking pioneer Julius Baer, founded Lykke in 2015. The company operates in Zug, Switzerland's "Crypto Valley," while maintaining its UK registration. The platform offered fee-free cryptocurrency trading before suffering an attack that disrupted operations. "The attack was attributed to malicious North Korean cyber actors who stole funds from the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks," the Treasury's OFSI stated in its report. The company lost Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other cryptocurrencies in the breach and was ultimately forced to cease trading operations. Israeli cryptocurrency research organization Whitestream also blamed Lazarus for the Lykke hack. They also claimed that the attackers laundered the stolen funds through two cryptocurrency companies known for facilitating transaction obfuscation and circumventing anti-money laundering controls. Other researchers dispute these conclusions, arguing that the current evidence is insufficient to definitively identify the exchange hackers. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority issued a warning about Lykke in 2023, stating that the company was neither registered nor authorized to provide financial services to UK consumers. Despite promising to return customer funds, the platform froze trading following the hack and officially ceased operations in December. Over 70 customers filed a petition for compulsory liquidation in a UK court, claiming losses totaling £5.7 million from the company's collapse. Lykke's Swiss parent company went into liquidation last year, and founder Richard Olsen was declared bankrupt in January. UK legal documents indicate Olsen faces a criminal investigation in Switzerland, but he has not yet responded to media requests for comment. The Lazarus Group has been linked to numerous high-profile cryptocurrency heists worldwide. They used a variety of techniques to compromise exchange security and launder stolen funds through digital trading networks.