Has the popular decentralized wallet, Atomic Wallet, found itself in the midst of a legal storm? According to emerging reports, a group of 50 Russian clients has initiated a class action lawsuit filed against Atomic Wallet following a massive $100 million exploit. While some fingers point towards the infamous North Korean hackers, the Lazarus Group, others believe there may be a Ukrainian connection to the crime.
Efforts to Recoup Lost Assets
Recent reports indicate that the affected Atomic Wallet users have joined forces with Max Gutbrod, a German lawyer, and Boris Feldman, co-founder of Moscow’s Destra Legal firm. These professionals claim to represent about 50 clients who have suffered losses ranging from $150,000 to $2 million, totaling an estimated $12 million. “Our focus is on recovering the assets for our clients, and we are planning to file a class action against Atomic Wallet. Our clients were not informed about the hack or the subsequent report to the police,” Gutbrod commented.
Destra Legal has also enlisted the services of blockchain analysis experts Match Systems to conduct a separate investigation for the victims.
Dispute Over the Exploit’s Origins
Initially, rumors suggested that the North Korean hacking group was behind the Atomic Wallet exploit, which resulted in the draining of approximately $100 million in cryptocurrencies. However, Feldman believes that Ukrainian hackers might be involved. It’s important to note that the use of cryptocurrencies has increased in both Russia and Ukraine since the military conflict began in February last year. “Since the war, there has been a significant surge in crypto usage. Many people have left the country and are using cryptocurrencies to transfer and store funds,” Feldman observed.
Controversy Surrounding the Exploit
Atomic Wallet, a decentralized crypto wallet with a user base of over five million, fell victim to cybercriminals in early June this year. Many customers reported compromised accounts, with some claiming losses of millions in digital assets. Atomic Wallet was initially less forthcoming with its customers, only providing an update two weeks after the attack. The team behind Atomic Wallet stated that less than 0.1% of its clients were affected, a claim that was met with skepticism by many.
It’s noteworthy that the hackers reportedly used the services of the Russian crypto exchange Garantex, sanctioned by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), to launder the stolen funds. Before that, they used 1INCH to exchange the assets for USDT. Reports suggest that the criminals also sent millions of stolen XRP tokens to centralized exchanges like Binance, Huobi, KuCoin, and others.
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