North Korean hackers have brought the country into the top three largest holders of Bitcoin

According to data from The Times, North Korea has become the third largest holder of Bitcoin in the world after the USA and the UK. This became possible due to successful hacker attacks during which a significant amount of cryptocurrency was stolen.

The largest and most successful organization in North Korea, called Lazarus, now owns 13,580 bitcoins, amounting to 886 million pounds (1.15 billion dollars). This data was provided by a company specializing in cryptocurrency monitoring.

According to Arkham Intelligence, which uses AI to identify the owners of anonymous cryptocurrencies, North Korea ranks only behind the UK and the USA in the number of bitcoins. The UK holds cryptocurrency worth 3.9 billion pounds (5 billion dollars), while the US government has 12.7 billion pounds (16.5 billion dollars). Both governments acquired their assets by confiscating funds from criminals.

“Lazarus” is one of the most successful criminal organizations in the world, and the income from their activities has become a source of funding for the development of weapons of mass destruction and a lifeline for leader Kim Jong-un,” said Arkham Intelligence.

Recently, the FBI confirmed that the Lazarus group stole over 1.6 billion dollars in Ethereum cryptocurrency as a result of an attack on the Bybit cryptocurrency exchange.

The amount of stolen funds exceeds North Korea's defense spending in 2023 (1.4 billion dollars). This theft has become the largest in history. Previously, the record belonged to Saddam Hussein, who stole 1 billion dollars from the Central Bank of Iraq before the war in 2003.

According to TRM Labs, in February this year, criminal groups associated with North Korea stole 35% of the 1.7 billion pounds that were stolen worldwide in 2024.

North Korean thieves carry out impressive heists, including stealing significant amounts of money from the central bank of Bangladesh.

Although ordinary citizens of North Korea are prohibited from accessing the Internet, the Lazarus group continues to carry out complex attacks under the cover of external intelligence. The UN claims that 40% of the funding for North Korea's nuclear and missile programs comes from cybercrime.