North Korea ranks third in the world in terms of bitcoin reserves

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North Korea has risen to third place among the world's largest bitcoin holders, behind only the United States and Great Britain. This sharp increase is largely due to the success of North Korean hackers in stealing cryptocurrency, writes The Times.

According to Arkham Intelligence, a study using artificial intelligence to determine the ownership of cryptocurrency wallets showed that the North Korean hacking group Lazarus (also known as TraderTraitor) owns 13,580 bitcoins. Today, this amount is valued at about $ 1.15 billion.

As a result, North Korea ranked third in the world in terms of cryptocurrency reserves. The United States is in first place with reserves of $16.5 billion, and the United Kingdom is in second place - their reserves are about $5 billion.

At the same time, the United States and Great Britain acquired these crypto assets mainly through funds confiscated from criminals.

The Lazarus Group is one of the most successful criminal cyber groups in the world. The funds it earns through hacking activities are an important financial source for the Kim Jong-un regime, including for financing programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.

According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Lazarus stole $1.6 billion worth of Ethereum in an attack on the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit. This amount is more than North Korea's military budget for 2023 ($1.4 billion).

This is the largest cyber theft ever detected. The previous record was $1 billion stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq by Saddam Hussein in 2003.

According to TRM Labs, a crypto security firm, 35% of the £1.7 billion stolen in cryptocurrency worldwide in February 2025 was attributed to hacking groups linked to the North Korean government. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”