North Korea’s Digital Heist: The £17M Crypto Theft That Brought Down an Exchange
The United Kingdom has formally accused North Korea of stealing £17 million ($22.8 million) in cryptocurrency from Lykke, a London-registered exchange. The breach forced the platform to suspend operations, cease activity altogether, and ultimately undergo court-ordered liquidation. According to the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), the attack targeted both the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks.
Investigators have linked the incident to the Lazarus Group, notorious for a string of large-scale attacks against cryptocurrency services worldwide. Should this attribution be confirmed, it would mark the largest theft of digital assets ever recorded on a British platform. Analysts believe the stolen funds may have been funneled into financing Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and military programs, endeavors already sustained by billions of dollars obtained through similar operations.
Experts at the Israeli firm Whitestream also attributed the heist to Lazarus, having traced the movement of the stolen coins. Their findings suggest that the attackers relied on two platforms that flouted anti-money laundering regulations, enabling them to obscure the origin of the assets and conceal transaction trails. Nonetheless, some specialists caution that conclusive evidence directly implicating North Korea remains lacking, and it is too soon to draw definitive conclusions.
Founded in 2015 by Swiss financier Richard Olsen, Lykke offered commission-free cryptocurrency trading and was headquartered in Zug, the famed “Crypto Valley.” Following the 2023 breach, the exchange disclosed a loss of $22.8 million, suspended trading, and by year’s end had ceased all activity.
In March 2025, a UK court ordered the liquidation of the company after more than 70 clients filed a collective lawsuit, claiming losses totaling £5.7 million ($7.6 million). The redistribution of assets is now being managed by Interpath Advisory, while the parent company in Switzerland has likewise entered liquidation proceedings.
Even prior to the incident, British financial regulators had warned that Lykke lacked authorization to operate with local investors, though this did little to deter users. In the aftermath of the collapse, the founder was declared bankrupt and is currently under investigation in Switzerland for potential legal violations.
