In May, hundreds of billions of dollars were wiped out from the crypto industry since most assets traded on private exchanges fell by over 70% from their peak. This has affected the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) because their stolen funds got hit as well.
North Korea is a world leader when it comes to crimes associated with crypto. There have been 15 cases of cyber theft amounting to $1.59 billion. But this portfolio of thieves has been hit by the recent market turmoil.
Reports from Coinclub and Chainalysis suggest that the DPRK has deployed 7,000 full-time hackers to conduct cyberattacks and steal crypto. The cyberattacks also include ransomware and crypto protocol hacks.
In over four years, about $170 million in crypto has been stolen by the DPRK. The value of these funds now stands at $63 million. It has also come to the knowledge that some crypto funds are as old as 2016. This makes it clear that the hackers were not able to launder the stolen crypto.
The disclosure of such information was only possible because of the transparency offered by blockchain technology. The technology is so advanced that it coordinates with stablecoin issuers and crypto exchanges to freeze stolen funds. The smallest of the small transactions are recorded on the ledger.
North Korea is confronting numerous sanctions from around the globe, making it hard to trade or transact in the worldwide market, and specialists accept it has pushed them to take a gander at crypto as another option. Nonetheless, crypto frames just a small chunk of funds for DPRK with most of its funds coming from coal smuggling and shady arrangements with China.