According to Cointelegraph, a senior executive of Cyvers, a blockchain security company, has stated that North Korean hackers, including the Lazarus Group, may begin to shift their attack targets towards larger ones, including US Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs).

The Lazarus Group is associated with some of the most notorious hacking incidents in the cryptocurrency industry, including the Ronin Cross Chain Bridge hack that resulted in losses of up to $625 million. According to Michael Pearl, Vice President of Strategy at Cyvers GTM, hackers may begin to shift their focus to US Bitcoin ETFs due to the potential huge bounty. Dune's data shows that the cumulative on chain BTC holdings of Bitcoin ETFs have reached $53 billion.

Pearl said in an interview with Cointelegraph, "Recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States issued a warning that North Korean hackers will attempt to infiltrate ETFs and steal funds from them. Therefore, all of these ETFs... store the underlying Bitcoin somewhere, and you can be sure that someone has been planning and thinking about how to steal it

Vulnerabilities in Bitcoin ETFs may trigger stricter cryptocurrency regulation

North Korean hackers have targeted the infrastructure surrounding Bitcoin ETFs, bringing concerning risks and potential challenges to the industry.

Cyvers' Pearl warns that not only ETF providers may be targeted, but also all related companies:

Not only ETF providers, but also the surrounding and all companies that work closely with them... (ETF vulnerabilities) are a problem we need to solve quickly, otherwise we will see major hacker attacks

According to Pearl, a potential "massive hacking attack" on Bitcoin ETFs may attract stricter regulatory attention in the United States, which could prompt other jurisdictions to take stricter regulatory measures.

The FBI released a report earlier this month titled 'North Korea actively targets the cryptocurrency industry with carefully disguised social engineering attacks', in which the agency wrote:

Over the past few months, malicious cyber attackers in North Korea have conducted research on various targets related to cryptocurrency exchange traded funds (ETFs), including pre action preparations, indicating that North Korean actors may attempt to engage in malicious cyber activities against companies associated with cryptocurrency ETFs or other cryptocurrency related financial products