How Arbitrum's Security Council Froze $70M of North Korea's Stolen Funds

Description

Griff Green explains how a 48-hour pause in North Korea's money laundering gave the Arbitrum Security Council a rare window to freeze $70M of stolen funds, and why an ingenious Layer 1 transaction made it possible without upgrading a single node. ======================================================================== Thank you to our sponsors! Ether.fi is giving Unchained listeners 15% cashback on food and ride apps — and that's on top of the 3% you get on everything else. Your bank is charging you to use your own money. Laura switched and loves her card! Go to ether.fi/unchained to claim your offer. Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/unchained ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For 48 hours, North Korea's stolen funds sat untouched on Arbitrum. That pause gave Griff Green and the Arbitrum Security Council a narrow window to do something that had never been done before: use forced inclusion, a Layer 1 transaction mechanism built into stage 1 rollups, to move the funds out of the Lazarus Group's wallets without upgrading a single node. SEAL 911 alerted the council, the technical solution was elegant rather than brutal, and $70M now sits in a dead address pending Arbitrum DAO governance. Griff Green, Security Council member and veteran of the original 2016 DAO hack, breaks down the technical mechanics, the deliberations inside the council, the philosophical case against immutability, and why Gabe Shapiro may be right that security councils need clearer rules of engagement. He also explains why Ethereum is technically the most secure blockchain in the world but still not safe to use, and introduces the DAO Security Fund's new quadratic funding round. Host: 👉 Laura Shin, Host, Unchained - https://x.com/laurashin Guest: 👉 Griff Green, Arbitrum Security Council Member, Leader of the DAO Security Fund, Co-founder of Giveth https://x.com/griffgreen Timestamps: 🎤 0:00 Introduction: Griff's history with the DAO hack and how he joined the Security Council 🔑 0:53 How North Korea's 48-hour pause made the Arbitrum freeze possible ⚙️ 5:09 Forced inclusion: how an L1 transaction froze funds without touching a single node 🏛️ 8:01 What the Arbitrum Security Council is and who's on it 🤔 14:31 Why Griff initially opposed the freeze and what changed his mind 🗣️ 19:17 Why social consensus, not immutability, is blockchain's real accountability layer ⚖️ 26:23 How the crypto community has responded and what Gabe Shapiro got right 🛡️ 34:31 Why Ethereum is secure but not safe, and the DAO Security Fund's mission ======================================================================== #bitcoin #ethereum #crypto #cryptocurrencies ======================================================================== Subscribe to our channel! Website → https://unchainedcrypto.com Unchained Daily Newsletter (FREE!)→ https://unchainedcrypto.beehiiv.com/subscribe/ Unchained X → https://x.com/unchained_pod Apple → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1123922160?ls=1 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/1cJrrfGY1SKBIRn5noKSAf?si=6SI4qIcRTEO7EhOe0V9n4w RSS Feed → https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LSHML4761942757 Unchained: Your no-hype resource for all things crypto!