News linked to both this project and an event.
in April 2026, two major DeFi attacks on Drift Protocol and Kelp DAO resulted in losses of nearly $600 million, triggering approximately $9 billion in capital outflows from protocols like Aave. TRM Labs investigator Nick Carlsen stated that a hacker group suspected to be linked to North Korea has allegedly used AI to assist in target selection and attack path design. Failsafe CEO Aneirin Flynn said that AI has compressed the time for discovering blockchain vulnerabilities from months to days or even hours. The report noted that Anthropic has not fully opened its AI model Mythos due to cybersecurity risks, claiming the model has the capability to discover large-scale zero-day vulnerabilities. Its research indicates that over half of blockchain attacks in 2025 could theoretically be completed autonomously by AI. (Bloomberg)
According to The Block, the T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), jointly established by Tether, TRON, and TRM Labs, announced that since its founding in 2024, it has frozen over $450 million worth of illicit crypto assets globally. In 2025, the unit’s interception of illicit proceeds increased by 43.9% year-on-year, covering 23 jurisdictions including the United States, Spain, and Germany, and has been recognized by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as “a critical resource for global law enforcement agencies.” The T3 FCU has participated in investigations across multiple crime categories, including exchange hacks, North Korea–related activities, terrorist financing, and violent crimes, and assisted Brazil’s Federal Police in freezing over $5.989 billion in assets—including 4.3 million USDT.
North Korea has denied allegations of its involvement in cryptocurrency theft, calling the claims "absurd slander" and a "political tool." The statement, issued by state-run media, emphasized that necessary measures will be taken to safeguard national interests. However, data from blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs shows that in the first four months of 2026, hacker groups linked to North Korea have stolen approximately $577 million, accounting for about 76% of global crypto theft losses during the same period. This includes two major attacks on KelpDAO (approximately $292 million) and Drift Protocol (approximately $285 million).TRM pointed out that the attacks are primarily associated with the Lazarus Group and its sub-organizations. Since 2017, the cumulative scale of crypto theft linked to North Korea has exceeded $6 billion.U.S. and international agencies widely believe that such funds are used to support military and missile programs. Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department has recently imposed sanctions on relevant individuals and entities, targeting approximately $800 million in illicit fund flows in 2024. (The Block)
North Korean spies spent months conducting multiple in-person meetings with Drift Protocol employees before executing one of the largest social engineering attacks against a crypto protocol, stealing $285 million. According to TRM Labs data, losses attributed to North Korean hackers accounted for 76% of total crypto hack losses in 2026. (CoinDesk)
According to The Block, blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs released a report stating that North Korean hacker groups stole approximately $577 million in crypto assets during the first four months of 2026—accounting for 76% of global hacking losses over the same period. All these losses stemmed from two major incidents that occurred in April: KelpDAO was attacked by the TraderTraitor group, resulting in $292 million in losses; and Drift Protocol was compromised by another North Korean sub-group, suffering $285 million in losses. Preparations for the latter attack began as early as March 11, and funds were fully extracted within 12 minutes. The two incidents employed distinct money-laundering pathways: stolen funds from Drift remain largely dormant on Ethereum, whereas funds stolen from KelpDAO were rapidly swapped into BTC via THORChain, with subsequent laundering facilitated by Chinese intermediaries. TRM Labs noted that since 2017, North Korea’s cumulative crypto theft has exceeded $6 billion—and its share of global losses has risen steadily, from less than 10% in 2020 to 64% in 2025.