Lazarus Launders $290M via Ethereum as DPRK Infiltration Exposé Reveals Tactics

North Korea's Lazarus Group laundered $290M in stolen crypto via Ethereum and Bitcoin, heightening DeFi risks amid Ethereum's probe into DPRK threats. The ETH Foundation's six-month ETH Rangers program (launched late 2024) exposed ~100 operatives across 53 projects, detailed 3 actor clusters with 62 malicious pull requests in 11 repositories, recovered/froze $5.8M, reported 785+ vulnerabilities, and released open-source detection tools by April 19. Chainalysis notes $2B+ DPRK thefts in 2025, pressuring ETH around $2,348 in volatile trading.