North Korea’s Record Crypto Heists Show How Little Crypto Security Has Actually Improved

Well it turns out the biggest winner in crypto this year wasn’t an exchange or a token… it was North Korea.

According to new data from Chainalysis, state-backed hackers tied to North Korea stole more than $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025… the largest haul the regime has ever pulled off in a single year.

On the surface, it looks like another headline about crypto crime spiraling out of control. Dig a little deeper and it’s clearer than ever that this isn’t only about hackers getting smarter. It’s about structural weaknesses in how digital assets are secured… weaknesses that surprisingly still haven’t been fixed.

And get this… Chainalysis estimates North Korea-linked groups stole more than 50% more crypto than in 2024, pushing the regime’s total identified haul since 2016 to roughly $6.75 billion. That’s real money. And for years, U.S. and U.N. officials have been clear about where it goes… straight into Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. Crypto didn’t invent the problem. It just made the funding faster, cleaner, and far harder to shut down.

One breach did most of the damage. In February, hackers tied to North Korea ripped $1.5 billion out of Dubai-based exchange Bybit… the largest crypto theft on record. Once the funds were gone, they didn’t sit still. The attackers pushed assets through a maze of wallets, blockchains, and decentralized finance protocols designed to make tracking and recovery nearly impossible.

That’s the uncomfortable part. This wasn’t some fly-by-night operation exploiting amateur mistakes. These were well-funded, patient actors abusing the fact that crypto transactions are irreversible and global by default. If attackers get the keys, the money is gone. And obviously since this is crypto, there’s no chargebacks or fraud department reversal. The money’s gone forever.

Chainalysis’ head of national security intelligence, Andrew Fierman, summed it up plainly: crypto’s 24/7, borderless design makes it uniquely attractive to sanctioned regimes looking for revenue. As the industry grows, the opportunity set grows with it.

This year alone, total crypto theft worldwide hit $3.4 billion. North Korea accounted for the majority.

There’s also a human angle that makes this harder to defend against. According to the report, North Korean operatives have increasingly obtained remote technical jobs at international firms under false identities. That insider access can be enough to hand off private keys or open doors for external teams to drain wallets from the inside out.

The response from policymakers is starting to heat up. Earlier this week, Elizabeth Warren urged the Treasury and Justice Department to investigate how decentralized finance platforms are being used by illicit actors to move stolen funds. But enforcement tools remain limited. North Korea is already under extreme sanctions, which means there’s very little left to threaten them with.

As Matt Pearl noted, the traditional deterrents haven’t worked… and there’s no clear reason to expect they will. Meanwhile, crypto keeps growing faster than its defenses, with asset values rising and security systems still trying to catch up. For North Korea, that gap has turned into a reliable revenue stream.

So sure, the industry likes to talk about maturity. But as long as billions can disappear with a few compromised keys and some patience… I think it’s clear to say crypto has a lot of growing up to do before it can be taken seriously.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum as mentioned in the article.