Lazarus Group moves 121.5 BTC worth $7.74 million to new address

North Korea-linked Lazarus Group moved 121.5 BTC worth about $7.74 million to two unidentified addresses, with Arkham Intelligence and Lookonchain linking the originating wallet to the group roughly an hour after the transfer. No evidence currently shows the Bitcoin reaching an exchange or mixing service, leaving investigators to monitor whether the funds are being consolidated, laundered or prepared for a later cash-out attempt. The movement comes during a costly year for crypto security. A cited report said 212 exploits in the first half of 2026 resulted in $1.1 billion in losses, with Lazarus allegedly responsible for nearly 55% of that total, or about $609 million. The group’s reported 2026 haul was driven mainly by attacks on KelpDAO and Drift Protocol, which produced losses of $292 million and $285 million, respectively. The same report said compromised private keys accounted for 74% of stolen funds this year, highlighting persistent wallet security weaknesses, while also pointing to a $216,000 AI prompt-injection exploit as an emerging threat. The transfer has also fed into a U.S. policy debate after Senator Cynthia Lummis said the CLARITY Act would address loopholes that enabled Lazarus to steal an estimated $6.75 billion in cryptocurrency over time by expanding sanctions authority and strengthening asset-freezing tools for exchanges and the Treasury.