According to Elliptic, North Korea has stolen a total of $2.3 billion worth of crypto currencies from businesses between 2017 and 2022
Hacking groups in North Korea have reportedly stolen over $721 million worth of cryptocurrency assets from Japan. This amount has been stolen in several hacking attacks over a 7 year time period, with successful hacking attempts going as far as 2017.
A recent report from the Nikkei business daily reports that the amount of crypto assets stolen by North Korea are equal to 30% of the global losses in the crypto industry thus making this a significant amount.
This report from the Nikkei business daily comes just days after finance ministers and central bank governors gave out a statement saying that they support measures to counter growing threats from illicit state backed activities.
A Japanese newspaper shows that from just 2017 to 2022, North Korea has stolen over $2.3 billion in crypto assets from businesses around the world.
Released in February 2023, another report from NPR alleged North Korean hackers of stealing over $1.2 billion worth of cryptocurrencies, with operations beginning in 2018.
The report claimed that the hacking operations surged during 2022 with a majority of the $1.2 billion being stolen in the same year.
South Korean Spy Agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) claim that North Korea uses the money the steal from their crypto operations to help their weakened economy.
“They need money, so they’re going to keep being creative. I don’t think the North Koreans are ever going to stop looking for illicit ways to glean funds” said a White House official while talking about North Korean crypto hacking.
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