Norwegian Authorities Return $5,700,000 Worth of Stolen Crypto Assets From 2022 Ronin Network Hack

Norwegian authorities successfully froze and returned $5.7 million worth of crypto assets that were stolen in a massive 2022 hack on the Ronin (RON) network.

Ronin is a gaming-focused Ethereum (ETH) sidechain developed by Sky Mavis, the same team that created the non-fungible token (NFT)-based game Axie Infinity (AXS).

In March 2022, hackers believed to be from the North Korean cybercriminal organization Lazarus Group exploited the private keys of the Ronin bridge and stole 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USD Coin (USDC) worth over $600 million at the time.

On Friday, Sky Mavis announced that the Økokrim (Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime) had seized and returned $5.7 million worth of the stolen assets.

“Recovery of these assets requires close coordination and dedicated effort amongst law enforcement agencies, lawyers, accountants, and blockchain forensic teams such as Chainalysis. ~ 15% of recovered assets will be used to cover costs and expenses incurred by those involved in the recovery efforts. The remaining 85% of recovered funds will be deposited into the Axie Infinity treasury.”

The developer also noted that a total of $40 million worth of the stolen crypto had been frozen by law enforcement since the hack.

“These assets will take some time to recover and we don’t have enough information to give guidance around a specific timetable for recovering and returning this separate pool of assets.”

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