Hyperliquid Denies North Korea Hack Amid Lazarus Group Fears

Updated: 24 December 2024

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Hyperliquid, a leading crypto-derivatives platform, has rejected claims of a possible hack by North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group even as on-chain data indicates suspicious activity on the platform.

“There has been no DPRK exploit- or any exploit for that matter- of Hyperliquid,” the company said on Discord. “All user funds are accounted for. Hyperliquid Labs takes OpSec seriously. No Vulnerabilities have been shared by any party. To be clear, there was never any allegation of any exploit on Hyperliquid.”

Hyperliquid said it was aware of reports regarding suspicious activity linked to alleged DPRK addresses, and on-chain data indicated that North Korea-linked wallet addresses made significant ETH deposits and withdrawals from the platform on December 23.

There were withdrawals exceeding $256 million in the last 30 hours, Dune analytics shows, marking Hyperliquid’s largest single-day outflow.

MetaMask Researcher Slams Hyperliquid

MetaMask security researcher Tay Monahan criticized Hyperliquid, suggesting complacency over the potential involvement of the Lazarus Group:

DPRK's trading career is…uh….going…..🙈

tbh if i was the dude managing Hyperliquid's 4 validators (or those fucking ghetto ass binaries on gh) I would be shitting my pants right now.

Hyperliquid dudes dont seem worried at all though so im sure its fine. 🫠 pic.twitter.com/JrrU7t1sJe

— Tay 💖 (@tayvano_) December 22, 2024

“Yall, DPRK doesn’t trade,” Monahan said in a follow-up post. “DPRK tests. ”

Monahan also claimed that Hyperliquid’s security and infrastructure are centralized, depending on four validators only.

North Korea’s hackers, including the Lazarus group, have stolen $1.3 billion worth of crypto in 2024, according to the US government, doubling their previous haul in an escalation of President Kim Jong Un’s effort to gather funds for the pariah nation, which is cut off from the world by sanctions.

While some security researchers supported Monahan’s view, Hyperliquid supporters urged that her claims were spreading unnecessary fear.

Hyperliquid’s native HYPE token has plunged 20% from its all-time high of $35 on December 22, but has climbed a little more than 1% in the past 24 hours.

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