Crypto analytic firms have estimated that DPRK hackers have found it increasingly difficult to launder stolen crypto funds, as North Korea leads the world in crypto crime.
With over 15 documented instances of cyber theft amounting to $1.59 billion in stolen funds, North Korea leads the world in crypto crime. Due to the recent crypto market crash, millions of dollars have wiped out from the country’s stolen crypto portfolio.
Since May, the crypto market rundown wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars from the crypto industry, whereby most of the crypto assets fell by over 70% from their top. As a result, the majority of stolen crypto funds by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) hackers have witnessed a significant plunge as well.
A recent report from Coinclub.com indicates that North Korea has hired 7,000 full-time hackers to raise funds through cyberattacks, ransomware and crypto protocol hacks.
An April hack by Ronin worth $600 million was also linked to the country’s infamous ransomware group, Lazarus. The value of the stolen Ether (ETH) has plunged to $230 million in the current market, a decline of over 60%.
According to a Chainalysis report, in over four years, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) held about $170 million in stolen unlaundered cryptocurrency from 49 hacks. The value of the stolen funds has now dropped to $63 million.
Another crypto analytic report by CNAS indicated that stealing is only the first step, finding brokers to exchange it for fiat or Bitcoin (BTC) often leaves Pyongyang with only one-third of the value of the actual stolen funds.
North Korea is facing multiple deterrents from all over the world, making it difficult to trade or transact in the international market, and experts believe it has pushed them to look at crypto as an alternative.
DPRK has found it increasingly difficult to launder their stolen crypto funds, with the massive size of the stolen funds in the recent past added to the growth of analytic tools and government actions.
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