New Report Exposes $3 Billion in Crypto Stolen by North Korean Hackers
A recent revelation shines a spotlight on the darker side of the crypto industry: a string of thefts and breaches.
Unveiled in a recent report, the shadowy realm of state-backed North Korean hackers has siphoned off a staggering $3 billion in digital currencies since 2017. Alarmingly, 44% of the pilfered crypto in 2022 has been traced back to these sanctioned cybercriminals.
The Rise of Crypto Theft: Insights from Intelligence
As the crypto industry soared into the mainstream limelight back in 2017, it unwittingly beckoned nefarious elements seeking easy gains. This new report, courtesy of intelligence experts at Recorded Future, reaffirms the long-held suspicion within the crypto sphere: North Korean hackers have been meticulously targeting the industry in recent years.
North Korea’s Pursuit of Ill-Gotten Gains
Known for a slew of illicit endeavors, North Korea has steered its clandestine operations towards the crypto landscape since the industry’s surge in 2017. With notorious entities like the Lazarus Group leading the charge, these hackers orchestrated a series of heists, initially focusing on South Korean exchanges and making off with a substantial $82.7 million in crypto assets.
The Crypto Arms Race
The illicit activities escalated rapidly. In 2022 alone, a staggering $1.7 billion in cryptocurrencies was brazenly purloined, dwarfing the nation’s export value by tenfold. This substantial sum, accounting for 5% of the country’s economy or a whopping 45% of its military budget, likely financed a slew of covert state projects.
READ MORE: US Banks Face $684 Billion in Losses, According to a FDIC Report
Efforts to fortify against such breaches have been ongoing, with sanctions targeting platforms like Sinbad and Tornado Cash, commonly utilized by hackers to launder stolen funds. However, cybercriminals continue to evolve their tactics. Blockchain security firm SlowMist reports a staggering $30 billion lost to crypto breaches since 2012.
Despite improved security measures denting crypto crime, recent intelligence reports paint a grim picture: North Korean hackers absconded with a substantial $180 million in the first half of 2023. Blockchain audit firm Certik also highlights losses amounting to approximately $363 million due to exploits, hacks, and scams in November 2023.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
