North Korea arrests hackers accused of laundering stolen funds from country’s bank via crypto

North Korean authorities arrested former military hackers accused of stealing state funds from two banks and laundering the proceeds through cryptocurrency.

The group, according to a Daily NK report citing an anonymous source in Pyongyang, allegedly breached the internal systems of the Central Bank of the DPRK and Foreign Trade Bank, diverted foreign currency and state trade funds, and moved the money into overseas crypto wallets.

The report could not be independently verified.

Chinese brokers then converted the assets into U.S. dollars and yuan, Daily NK said. Contacts in the border cities of Sinuiju and Hyesan allegedly exchanged the crypto for cash in real time, with the group splitting transfers into small amounts to avoid detection and using encrypted messaging apps, unregistered phones and Chinese wireless equipment.

North Korea’s National Intelligence Agency arrested the suspects at a Pyongyang safe house on July 12 after officials detected discrepancies in foreign-currency payment approvals and suspicious overseas IP activity, according to the report.

The laundering route mirrors methods used by North Korean hacking groups to cash out stolen crypto.

A multinational sanctions-monitoring report said Chinese over-the-counter traders and financial institutions play a central role in converting crypto stolen by Pyongyang-linked operators into fiat.

North Korean hackers stole a record $2 billion in crypto last year, according to Chainalysis. TRM Labs estimated they accounted for 76% of crypto hack and scam losses through April 202