UN report:

North Korea behind crypto-coups worth billions

The captured money is used by North Korea to finance its nuclear and missile program, which ruler Kim Jong Un has recently pushed ahead with.

(Bild: APA/AFP/KCNA VIA KNS/STR, stock.adobe.com, krone.at-Grafik)

According to a confidential UN report, North Korea has allegedly stolen around 3.6 billion dollars over the past seven years through cyberattacks on crypto companies. This includes an attack at the end of 2023 in which 147.5 million dollars were stolen from the HTX cryptocurrency exchange, the report said. This money was then laundered in March via the virtual currency platform Tornado Cash.

The report submitted to the UN Security Council on Friday, which Reuters was given access to, names 97 suspected cyberattacks on crypto companies between 2017 and 2024. The document comes from the sanctions watchdog and is based on data from the crypto analysis company PeckShield and the blockchain research company Elliptic.

In 2024 alone, the watchdog investigated eleven thefts of cryptocurrencies worth 54.7 million dollars, it said. Statements from North Korea and Tornado Cash were not initially available.

So-called virtual currency mixers such as Tornado Cash take the cryptocurrencies of many users and mix them in order to conceal the source and owners of the funds. The USA took action against Tornado Cash in 2022. Two co-founders were charged in 2023 with facilitating money laundering of more than one billion dollars.