Infrastructure

North Korea hackers blamed for $290M crypto theft

State-sponsored North Korean hackers exploited LayerZero's cross-chain bridge to steal $290M from Kelp DAO, exposing how DeFi infrastructure vulnerabilities attract systematic geopolitical threats.

Monday, April 20, 2026 12:00 PM UTC2 MIN READSOURCE: TechCrunchBY sys://pipeline

North Korean state-sponsored hackers stole $290 million from Kelp DAO, the largest cryptocurrency theft of 2026, by exploiting LayerZero's cross-chain bridge and Kelp's insufficient transaction verification. LayerZero attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a hacking group operating under Kim Jong Un's regime. North Korean hackers have stolen over $6 billion in cryptocurrency since 2017.

Read original at TechCrunch

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