this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
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Record thefts boost North Korea to third-largest bitcoin holder (www.thetimes.com)
submitted 3 days ago by Domino@lemmings.world to c/world@quokk.au
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North Korea has become the world’s third-largest holder of bitcoin after the governments of the United States and Britain, after the success of hackers stealing cryptocurrency in audacious online attacks.

According to data published by a cryptocurrency monitoring company, North Korea’s biggest and most successful cyber-hacking organisation, Lazarus, holds a total of 13,580 bitcoin, worth £886 million, after a record-breaking theft last month.

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[–] RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Gosh, it's almost as if there's a massive red flag staked in the heart of the crypto sphere. I wonder if any will see it.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

BTC itself is secure. The exchange that NK stole from, Bybit, was insecure because North Korea somehow obtained the private key needed to open and take from the wallet used for transfers and they also knew when large transfers from a different permanent storage wallet were happening.

So clearly it was an inside job.

[–] RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago

If NK wants to fuck with BTC valuations they just have to sell at an extreme loss. If they sold their haul at $.01 that would fuck the cryptosphere up.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 days ago

Wait, so BTC was a pump & dump to tank N. Korea?

^dude.