North Korea has turned crypto theft into a state-managed industry. A new report from blockchain security firm CertiK attributes $2.06 billion of the $3.4 billion lost to crypto hacks in 2025 to groups linked to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. That’s 60% of all security losses across just 79 of 656 incidents.
Between 2016 and early 2026, North Korean hackers stole approximately $6.75 billion in digital assets. The proceeds directly fund nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The Bybit hack is a case study: 86% of the stolen ETH was laundered into Bitcoin in under a month via mixers and exchanges.
CertiK notes a clear shift toward social engineering and physical infiltration. DPRK operatives are embedding themselves inside target organizations as fake employees to gain insider access. For DeFi protocols, this changes the threat model entirely-code audits can't catch a state-sponsored operative who passed the hiring process.