When a suspicious transaction flashed across their screens, Greek investigators knew they had a shot at history. Months after North Korea’s Lazarus Group looted Bybit for $1.5 billion, a digital breadcrumb led to Greece’s first-ever crypto seizure, proving even the slickest hackers leave a trail.
According to an announcement on July 9, Greece’s Hellenic Anti-Money Laundering Authority executed the country’s inaugural cryptocurrency asset seizure, tracing stolen funds from the record-breaking Bybit hack earlier this year.
The breakthrough came after investigators flagged a suspicious transaction using Chainalysis Reactor, a blockchain investigation platform acquired in 2023 and supported by Chainalysis’ local partner, Performance Technologies.
Chainalysis said Greek analysts leveraged the tool to connect the wallet involved in the flagged transaction directly to the cyberattack attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Authorities then issued an emergency freezing order and escalated the case to prosecutors.
“This successful blockchain trace enabled the Authority to issue a “Freezing Order,” immediately freezing the wallet and its contents — effectively removing criminal proceeds from illicit actors’ control. The case has now been transferred to the competent prosecuting authority, transforming digital investigation into tangible legal consequences,” Chainalysis wrote.
How Greece’s crypto crackdown exposed Lazarus Group’s weakness
For years, North Korea’s Lazarus Group operated like ghosts in the machine, stealing billions with military precision, then vanishing into the labyrinth of cross-chain swaps and privacy mixers. But their latest heist, the $1.5 billion Bybit hack, hit an unexpected snag: a Greek anti-money laundering team armed with Chainalysis Reactor.
According to Chainalysis, Reactor is a forensic powerhouse capable of stitching together fragmented transaction trails across more than 25 blockchains, even through obfuscation tactics like bridge hops and decentralized exchanges. When the HAML Authority identified a suspicious wallet, Reactor traced its connections back to the original Bybit exploit wallets, despite multiple layers of cross-chain laundering.
The seizure marks a turning point in crypto crime-fighting: governments are no longer playing catch-up. HAML’s partnership with Chainalysis and Performance Technologies mirrors successful models like the FBI’s crypto task forces, blending global infrastructure with local enforcement expertise.
Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis called the operation a “blueprint” for modern financial defense. It’s also a direct blow to Lazarus, which has stolen an estimated $5 billion since 2017, according to TRM Labs. Their usual playbook of flooding analysts with rapid transactions failed this time.
