Reuters has reported citing its own sources that North Korea has lost "millions of dollars" stolen by hackers due to the collapse of the crypto market, which has jeopardized funding for the country's weapons program.
According to two unnamed South Korean government interlocutors, the bear crypto market has made it difficult for Pyongyang to monetize hacker attacks. According to them, this could potentially affect funding for military development and testing.
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The value of unlaundered North Korean cryptos tracked by Chainalysis has fallen from $170 million to $65 million.
This category includes funds stolen as a result of 49 hacks conducted between 2017 and 2021.
According to TRM Labs analyst Nick Carlsen, a wallet associated with North Korea has lost between 80% and 85% of its value over the past few weeks.
Experts have not disclosed which digital assets are held by North Korean authorities, as this could reveal the research methods used.