North Korea has vehemently denied allegations that it is the mastermind behind a recent wave of high-profile international cryptocurrency hacks.
The "Hermit Kingdom" has described the claims as "false information" in response to inquiries from the Korean Central News Agency.
A spokesperson for North Korea's Foreign Ministry called the hacking allegations "absurd slander" intended to damage Pyongyang's global image for political purposes. The ministry also accused the United States of attempting to spread a "distorted perception" of North Korea, and threatened to take all necessary measures to protect its interests.
These forceful denials come after the international community and U.S. intelligence agencies have spent years identifying North Korea-linked hacking syndicates — most notably the infamous Lazarus Group — as the primary suspects in massive cryptocurrency thefts.
The Lazarus Group first drew widespread global attention following the 2014 Sony Pictures hack and has since been linked to a series of major cybercrimes. Most recently, the group was allegedly responsible for an attack on the decentralized finance platform KelpDAO, resulting in the theft of approximately $290 million to $292 million in cryptocurrency.
In February 2025, the FBI confirmed that North Korea was responsible for stealing approximately $1.5 billion in virtual assets from the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit. In July 2024, North Korean state-sponsored hackers also breached WazirX, India's largest cryptocurrency exchange, making off with $235 million.
According to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, North Korean hackers have stolen over $6 billion in cryptocurrencies since 2017. The country's share of global crypto hacking losses has reportedly surged to a staggering 64% in 2025.
Why it matters
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs estimates North Korean hackers have stolen over $6 billion in cryptocurrencies since 2017, illustrating the sustained and growing scale of state-linked crypto theft.
The alleged attacks span both major centralized exchanges — Bybit and WazirX — and a decentralized finance platform, KelpDAO, showing that neither exchange model has been immune to these intrusions.
The FBI's February 2025 public confirmation that North Korea was behind the Bybit theft represents a notable instance of a U.S. law-enforcement agency formally attributing a specific crypto hack to a nation-state.
