OKX Halts DEX Aggregator Amid Hacker Activity

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has suspended its decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator to prevent “further abuse” by the North Korean hacker group Lazarus.

We are temporarily pausing our DEX aggregator to address incomplete tagging on blockchain explorers while we also roll out new security features. This is to address the recent coordinated attacks by media along with unsuccessful efforts by Lazarus group to misuse our DeFi… pic.twitter.com/r6oHNIaalT

— OKX (@okx) March 17, 2025

The company stated that the decision was made after consultations with regulators.

“Recently, we discovered coordinated efforts by the Lazarus group to abuse our DeFi services,” OKX explained.

The DEX aggregator has been disabled for internal checks and updates, according to the exchange’s technical support. The platform has not specified when services will resume.

OKX cryptocurrency wallets will continue to operate normally. However, the creation of new addresses has been temporarily suspended in some countries.

Earlier, EU financial regulators launched an investigation into the OKX Web3 platform, which provides access to the DEX aggregator and non-custodial wallet. According to Bloomberg, the platform was allegedly used for laundering assets stolen from Bybit.

“In recent days, we have faced targeted media attacks questioning our integrity and operations,” the company stated in its blog.

OKX CEO Star Xu revealed that the exchange has already implemented a system for real-time tracking and blocking of hacker addresses, and has restricted access to the aggregator from certain regions.

We already rolled out a lot of controls for OKX Web3 to fight with the misuse including prohibited markets’ ip blocking and real-time black address detection and blocking system. We will continue working hard to build the industry control standards with our global partners.

I… https://t.co/9Ct4odJxDF

— Star (@star_okx) March 17, 2025

He emphasized that the aggregator does not hold user assets but merely provides access to liquidity across various protocols. Xu added that the company will continue to enhance security mechanisms.

Back in February, OKX admitted to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws and agreed to pay over $504 million in fines and restitution.