North Korea stole billions in crypto in 2025, new research says

For the second year in a row, North Korea’s vast cryptocurrency hacking operation has broken its own record, stealing $2.02 billion in 2025, new research says

For the second year in a row, North Korea’s vast cryptocurrency hacking operation has broken its own record, stealing $2.02 billion in 2025, new research says.

A report published Thursday by the blockchain watchdog company Chainalysis found that North Korea broke its own record of $1.3 billion in hacked and stolen crypto like bitcoin and ethereum. That brings the country’s total stolen crypto to around $6.75 billion, the report said. The total amount of stolen crypto around the globe rose to $3.4 billion.

A significant chunk of that comes from the hack of the Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit this year. The hackers — who worked for North Korea’s elite government hacking squad, according to the U.S. Secret Service — stole around $1.5 billion, mostly in ethereum, in February, Bybit’s CEO said.

Chainalysis is one of a growing number of companies that map out the sprawling network of cryptocurrency transactions, including tracing hacked funds as they’re laundered by criminals.

The United Nations and private researchers have long accused North Korea, which is beset by international sanctions and has relations with only a handful of countries, of deploying its hackers to steal cryptocurrency to help fund its nuclear weapons and missile programs.