Key Takeaways
- North Korea now holds 13,518 BTC, surpassing Bhutan and El Salvador.
- Lazarus Group stole $1.4 billion from Bybit, changing funds into Bitcoin.
- The U.S. stays the biggest Bitcoin holder with 198,109 BTC.
North Korea has change into one of many largest nation-state holders of Bitcoin, surpassing each El Salvador and Bhutan, in line with Arkham Intelligence.
Lazarus Group’s accumulation
Lazarus Group, the North Korean hacker collective, at the moment holds 13,518 BTC—valued at roughly $1.13 billion.
This places the nation forward of Bhutan, which owns 10,635 BTC, and El Salvador, which has gathered 6,118 BTC since adopting Bitcoin as authorized tender in 2021.
The Bybit change exploit
The rise in North Korea’s holdings follows its February 21 exploit of the Bybit change, by which Lazarus stole round $1.4 billion.
The group reportedly transformed a lot of the stolen ether to Bitcoin utilizing DeFi protocol THORChain.
Historical past of cyber heists
Lazarus has a historical past of high-profile cyber heists, together with a $308 million theft from Japan’s DMM Bitcoin in 2023 and a $615 million assault on the Ronin Community in 2022.
The group additionally holds a further $30 million in varied digital belongings, together with ether, BNB, DAI, and BUSD.
Comparability with different holders
Regardless of North Korea’s rising Bitcoin reserves, the U.S. stays the biggest recognized holder, with 198,109 BTC, largely from belongings seized in prison and civil instances.
The U.Ok. follows with 61,245 BTC.
Ongoing world risk
A 2023 White Home report said that North Korea funds practically half of its weapons and missile packages by way of cyber thefts, underscoring the continued world risk posed by state-sponsored hacking.