CHAINALYSIS USED AI TO TRACE THE $387M BITGET HACK BACK TO NORTH KOREA

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

Chainalysis attributed the September 24 Bitget breach to North Korean actors, a $387M theft that pushed the DPRK's 2026 crypto total past $1 billion. Within three hours of the hack, attackers dispersed funds across Ethereum (49.7%), XRP (40.8%), Zcash (7.6%), and Tron (1.8%) in 23 transfers. Custom AI tools compressed what would have required 20+ hours of manual bridge reconciliation into under 10 minutes, with human investigators directing the analysis throughout. Attackers routed stolen XRP through cross-chain liquidity protocols to convert it into Bitcoin over roughly 36 hours before funds reached attacker-controlled addresses, avoiding direct exchange exposure.