North Korea has been accused of stealing about £17 million in BTC from crypto trading platform Lykke, registered in the United Kingdom. The hack forced the company to pause trading, halt operations, and go through liquidation in court.
According to the United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, a division of the Treasury, the hack was carried out by “malicious Democratic People’s Republic of Korea cyberactors”, a report from The Telegraph said. The attack hit both Bitcoin and Ethereum networks.
The group believed to be behind the heist is Lazarus, the North Korean hacking group linked to multiple major crypto attacks around the world. If confirmed, this would be their largest crypto theft from any British target to date. The stolen money is suspected to be part of Pyongyang’s broader effort to fund its nuclear weapons program and military projects, with billions already funneled through past crypto raids.
United Kingdom agency blames North Korea for BTC theft
The attackers of the crypto trading platform were identified by Whitestream, an Israeli crypto research company. They tracked the funds and said the hackers cleaned the money through two crypto companies that are widely known for helping users hide their tracks. “They moved the funds using platforms that basically ignore money-laundering rules,” Whitestream said. These mixers and unregulated exchanges made it hard to follow the trail.
However, the claim doesn’t seem to sit well with everyone, as some researchers agree that there is no solid proof to tie the hack directly to North Korea. They claim it is too early to pinpoint the responsible party. Lykke, the company hit by the hack, was founded in 2015 by Richard Olsen, a descendant of Swiss banking legend Julius Baer. It ran operations out of Zug, Switzerland, but its corporate registration was in the UK.
Lykke promised commission-free trading and attracted a good chunk of retail users, but things spiraled after the attack. The company announced the $22.8 million loss last year, and despite saying it could recover user funds, it froze trading and shut down by December 2023. In March 2025, a UK court ordered Lykke to be liquidated after over 70 users took legal action to recover their funds. These customers said they had lost £5.7 million when the platform stopped operating.
Interpath Advisory was invited to handle the process. Before the hack, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority had already warned about Lykke in 2023, saying the company wasn’t licensed to offer services to British consumers. That red flag wasn’t enough to stop users from investing, and once the heist happened, Lykke’s UK arm couldn’t keep up with claims.
Richard was declared bankrupt in January 2025 and has been under investigation in Switzerland for possible criminal wrongdoing, according to documents from British courts. His company’s fall is now part of a bigger story, one where North Korea keeps grabbing crypto to keep its regime afloat, no matter who gets burned in the process.
