Noncustodial decentralized wallet provider Atomic Wallet finds itself reeling from a massive exploit, as users face the distressing reality of losing their entire cryptocurrency holdings.

This unforeseen breach has struck a nerve within the crypto community, as Atomic Wallet’s core principle revolves around users assuming sole responsibility for securely storing their assets.

The extent of the damage inflicted by the Atomic Wallet heist has now reached staggering proportions, surpassing a mind-boggling $100 million, as detailed by Elliptic’s analysis. This alarming figure serves as a stark reminder of the gravity of the attack, which targeted an estimated 5,500 cryptocurrency wallets.

Despite the enormity of the incident, Atomic Wallet has remained conspicuously silent, offering no insight into the root cause behind these significant losses. Understandably, this lack of transparency has fueled mounting apprehension among users, who eagerly anticipate an explanation and reassurances from the company. Curiously, as of the time of writing, Atomic Wallet’s most recent communication via Twitter dates back to June 7.

With their frustration reaching a boiling point, disgruntled Atomic Wallet users have taken to the popular social media platform, Twitter, to express their exasperation with the company’s handling of the situation. In a direct mention to Atomic Wallet, Twitter user Ezra Carlson aired his grievances, demanding to know why the company failed to issue a warning despite being aware of the ongoing hack, thereby endangering his transaction to a compromised wallet.

Following reports of compromised wallets, Atomic Wallet acknowledged the incident on June 3 through a tweet.

However, the company sought to downplay the impact by stating that the number of affected users constituted less than 1% of their user base.

Nonetheless, considering the substantial magnitude of the losses, it appears that a significant breach has indeed occurred.

In a groundbreaking revelation, Elliptic, a prominent blockchain analysis company, has connected the latest heist to the infamous Lazarus Group, a notorious entity notorious for orchestrating cryptocurrency thefts amounting to more than $2 billion. This attribution by Elliptic marks a significant development, as it is the first time a major crypto heist has been openly linked to the Lazarus Group since its audacious $100 million exploit of Horizon Bridge in June 2022.

Following the occurrence of the heist, Elliptic wasted no time and immediately initiated collaborative efforts with international investigators and cryptocurrency exchanges, leveraging its extensive resources in a bid to recover the stolen assets. As a result of their ongoing endeavors, the firm claims to have successfully frozen over $1 million worth of the pilfered funds thus far. However, Elliptic has observed a notable shift in the thief’s behavior in response to the freezing of these funds. In particular, the perpetrator has resorted to utilizing the Russia-based Garantex exchange as a means to launder the stolen assets.

This recent attack joins a growing list of noteworthy breaches that have plagued the crypto space. Notably, the Jimbos Protocol was exploited, leading to a staggering loss of $7.5 million. In another malicious incident, a proposal aimed at seizing control of Tornado Cash’s governance unfolded in May. According to a comprehensive report by Chainalysis, the cumulative amount pilfered by crypto hackers in 2022 amounted to a staggering $3.8 billion, with a considerable portion of these illicit activities traced back to North Korea. Furthermore, decentralized finance protocols have been a prime target for numerous exploits, further exacerbating the mounting challenges faced by the industry.