North Korean hackers accused of theft $1.7 billion from cryptocurrency exchanges – Bits Media

According to South Korean publications Newsis and Chosun, hackers from North Korea hacked many cryptocurrency exchanges over five years and stole assets on $1.7 billion.

In their statements, the publications refer to a press release from the American prosecutor's office.. They blame the Northern authorities Korea in training and supporting hackers, who hack cryptocurrency exchanges from different countries. An example is the Bithumb hack, Kucoin и YouBit, committed in 2017 and 2018 years.

Interesting, that North Korean hackers do not sell stolen assets, but continue to store it in their wallets.

"Given the fact, that the Bitcoin rate has increased by 60 times with 2017 of the year, when North Korean hackers started hacking cryptocurrency exchanges, they use stolen cryptocurrencies as long-term investments. For North Korea, cryptocurrencies have become the only liquid financial asset, which can be used in conditions of severe economic sanctions", - emphasized Ko Myung-Hyun, senior researcher at the Institute for Political Studies of Asia (Koh Myung-Hyun).

Note, that North Korea has been accused many times
in hacking cryptocurrency services by hackers specially trained for this purpose. In February this year, Reuters accused
North Korean hackers kidnapped $316.3 million in cryptocurrencies since the end 2019 years to November 2020 of the year.