Lazarus Group Routes Millions Through Hyperliquid as Venue Seeks US Entry
North Korea's sanctioned Lazarus Group has been moving millions of dollars through the decentralized derivatives venue Hyperliquid, according to an on-chain analysis published by Arkham Intelligence. The finding comes as the Trump administration is trying to bring Hyperliquid into the regulated US market.
The analysis, conducted by Emmett Gallic, shows that addresses linked to the OFAC-designated group moved over $30 million through Hyperliquid's HyperUnit bridge as recently as August 30. This movement involved converting bitcoin into ether and solana before bridging out to Tron, Solana, and Ethereum.
The trail of funds led to various centralized exchanges, including KuCoin, LBank, Kraken, and several unlabeled Tron services. Gallic split the activity into two clusters: one worth around $30 million that traces back to wallets already labeled as Lazarus, and another cluster worth around $5 million with similar characteristics.
The analysis does not imply an intent to sabotage Hyperliquid's US ambitions but rather serves as a concrete case for regulators questioning how a permissionless global book can be walled off from a compliant American offering. The findings raise practical questions about who controls the deposit accounts at centralized exchanges and whether an onshore Hyperliquid product can be designed to prevent sanctioned clusters from bleeding into U.S. order flow.