How crypto hacking funds isolated North Korea’s nuclear programme
Summary
North Korea has used cryptocurrency theft to earn foreign currency, with suspected hacks worth billions of dollars since 2017. A UN panel estimated the stolen funds generated about half of the country’s foreign-currency income, and one country estimated they financed 40% of its weapons of mass destruction programs. Experts have linked major crypto thefts to North Korean hacking group TraderTraitor, though the article says attribution of the reported $6.3 billion theft may not be proven.Key Facts
- A UN panel said it was reviewing 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks on cryptocurrency-related companies from 2017 to 2023, valued at $3 billion.
- The UN panel estimated that proceeds from the suspected attacks generated half of North Korea’s foreign-currency income.
- One unnamed country estimated that stolen cryptocurrency funds paid for 40% of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction programs.
- The article reports that suspected North Korean cryptocurrency thefts in 2023 numbered as many as 17 and totaled $750 million.
- The FBI attributed the February 2025 theft of $1.5 billion from the Bybit exchange to TraderTraitor.
- In 2016, North Korean hackers tried to transfer $951 million from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; $81 million was stolen.
- In 2019, British officials disrupted a North Korean attempt to make cash machines linked to 56 financial institutions pay out unusually large sums.
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