North Korea’s weapons program is also among crypto losers

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge

One thing I have come to appreciate is the fact that crime isn't really good at using cryptocurrencies. Today's example is from North Korea, where the regime's war chest of stolencryptocurrencies is now worth less than it used to be.

This is an extremely funny sentence from the news agency.

Old, unlaundered North Korean crypto holdings monitored by the New York-based blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, which include funds stolen in 49 hacks from 2017 to 2021, have decreased in value from $170 million to $65 million since the beginning of the year, the company told Reuters.

It was a 61 percent loss for those who kept track at home. According to an analyst with TRM Labs, the coin has lost 80% of its value since it was stolen. At its London embassy, North Korea called this news a fake.

The situation in North Korea makes it harder to work on its nuclear program. He traveled to North Korea to speak at a conference on how to engage in sanctions evasion. There were photos of Griffith in front of a whiteboard. There is a smiling face on the whiteboard. The man was sentenced to more than five years for violating sanctions.

It's the same problem for a hacker as it is for a North Korean one: they have to convert their stolen money into real money. Even before line went down, North Korea's actual takings from cybercrime were already less than they appeared to be due to the hitch with fencing stolen goods.

Less money doesn't mean no money. According to the report, North Korea used cyberattacks to raise $2 billion for its weapons program. There was no word on the faces that looked like them.