North Korean Cryptocurrency Hacking Incidents Surge, 2025 Sees Record High in Theft and Money Laundering

BlockBeats News, December 29th. According to The Block, a Chainalysis report shows that North Korean hackers stole a record-breaking amount of cryptocurrency in 2025, totaling over $2.17 billion, including nearly $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum stolen from the Bybit platform, marking the largest single cryptocurrency hack in history. Additionally, North Korean hackers are also accused of recently attacking the South Korean exchange Upbit for $37 million. Despite facing international sanctions, North Korea's cyber attacks continue to escalate, with hacker groups like Lazarus continually refining their strategies to exploit vulnerabilities in the global blockchain and cryptocurrency space.

Chainalysis's Director of National Security Intelligence, Andrew Fierman, pointed out that relying solely on sanctions is far from sufficient, and that coordinated industry-wide action is needed to combat North Korea's increasingly sophisticated hacker and money laundering ecosystem. It is expected that the regime will continue to rely on cryptocurrency hacks as a primary source of revenue.