Bitcoin Forum

News has it that North Korean Government holds 13,562 Bitcoin making the government the third largest Bitcoin holders in the world and this Bitcoin according to the news source is gotten as a result of the state sponsored Lazarus group whose job is tasked with the responsibility of hacking major Crypto holders and the last of their target was bybit which was the biggest hack so far in the history of Crypto inception.

Does this mean that the North Korean Government is deliberately avoiding to buy Bitcoin for their national reserve or what? As the hack linking to this group called the Lazarus points towards them being sponsored by the government and after that their hacks, they convert it to Bitcoin and keep it as a reserve and they ranking the third largest Bitcoin holders in the world. This accumulation is directly not linked to purchase or seizures by the government as it has not been heard anywhere that the government made an announcement of a purchase or seizures but rather gotten from hacks. Is it worth it that a government would act this way instead of being fair and just, they rather choose to accumulate Bitcoin in such manner and claim to be a wealthy nation.  Are they really leading by example or they are encouraging hacks and theft amongst their nationals or what because that is what  I could think of now that would likely play out in the future.

SOURCE (https://www.fxleaders.com/news/2025/03/17/north-korea-holds-more-bitcoin-than-el-salvador-bhutan/)

If i understand you so well, you are literally saying the Korean government is sponsoring the Lazarus groups who keeps hacking exchanges, or you are just asking to be sure? That will be a false accusation because no government will publish any news that they are in support of cybercrime. If investigations is done and they have to trace all the money stolen from these CEX exchanges down to the Lazurus group, then the Korean government will be causing a conflict between nations.

Google tells me that the hacker group in the article (Lazarus Group) is allegedly run by North Korean government. Considering the source is US justice department, I wouldn't use that as a strong reason. So speculation on how much bitcoin the government of NK has is a bit weird based on this weak link.

With that said, if it is true then it is a weird and funny way of accumulating bitcoin at a governmental level and I hope it doesn't become like a trend because if others like Chinese or US government start doing it then centralized services will be in a lot of trouble :D
Although at the same time it could be a good thing because that would push people to migrate to decentralized services like DEX and that's a push we'd welcome ;)

From the source, it was clearly captured on their website and not a direct statement from me. It can be called a rumour or news if you wish to know and not an accusation. Maybe you didn't really understand what you read here. It is true that Government's frowns at cybercrime and it is their responsibility to fight against it which is expected but when seeing such rumours or news, it isn't welcoming and if found to be truth then the government isn't encouraging her citizens  and the world frowns at such act.

Here South Korea basically hacked Bybit exchange and took 1.4 billion dollars and held Bitcoin, I think it is basically a short-term Bitcoin holding. But El Salvador has basically been holding Bitcoin since 2021, and they are currently holding 1 Bitcoin per day, currently El Salvador has 6119.18 Bitcoin.
They can also be called DCA method Bitcoin, and South Korea basically took their Bitcoin and dollars and deposited Bitcoin illegally, I do not trust their holding and they can decide to sell Bitcoin at any moment. In this case, El Salvador has been holding Bitcoin for a long time and their Bitcoins are definitely full long-term holdings.

 Report of Arkham (https://www.theblock.co/post/346553/north-korea-surpasses-el-salvador-and-bhutan-in-btc-holdings-following-1-4-billion-bybit-hack-arkham)

without explicit proofs or confirmations provided by government these are just pure speculations.
at least to me, even if they have (or it appears to have) a strong connection with their government I would not directly think that their government has coins because of...
moreover we don't know what is their public policy on that argument. I don't think they will ever support this technology or the group involved in these hackings.

What truth? The highest form of crime is done by the government, don't you know? The media and internet will let you believe what they want you to believe because they are controlled by the governments. This could be a rumor or the truth but still people won't believe even if it is the truth because they still have this mentality that the government is against crime. Like as @Pooya87 already stated "considering the source is US justice department", it is more likely to be a rumour

Until now there is no evidence that Lazarus is a hacker supported by the North Korean government. But most of the media may misinterpret this group only from North Korea and not created by its government for this purpose. Indeed, the US also suspects that the funds from this hack are being used by North Korea to finance their weapons program, which poses a serious threat to global security. There are still many possibilities but the prediction may be right or wrong. But for the time being, Korea has even refused to make BTC a strategic reserve of the country.

Congratulations to North Korean Government for this achievement, but it's more accurately to congratulate Kim Jong Un about that.

He will have more money to enjoy his luxurious life while his citizens will continue to live with sanction and poverty. He won't solve any issue to improve living conditions of his citizens, while doing many immoral activities like hacking through Hazarus group and damage many projects and people life globally because of his selfishness and greediness.

I hope that his regime in North Korean will end soon.

If the ones who stole thos bitcoins are the hacer grpup then i'm not sure if those bitcoins belong to the korea government. I mean the hackers are the ones who have the private keys so at any moment they can run away with those coins.

And if they make ir public then the World will try to recover those coins.

I think that it's less likely they will hold the Bitcoin and instead do something like strengthen the KPW (North Korea Won). I'm sure other nations around the world would be trying to find a way to buy that Bitcoin should it be for sale, and I dare say that enemies of North Korea don't want them to own it (and may even go to the lengths of taking action to prevent them from benefiting from Bitcoin's appreciation, could be why market activity/sentiment has changed so much since the hack whilst nothing has technically been sold yet, just swapped from ETH to BTC).

Perhaps Pooya87 isn't saying that what ever that is from the US justice department is a lie or isn't true but considering the fact that US government likes to pin crimes on government which they do not like and pretend to be clear that is the most important point.

The US might do worst yet wouldn't get to our hearing, NK might be aware of the criminal hack gang yet with it's anonymous and might not be able to do anything about it, but if true they are sponsors to this group then NK more but the smartest country ever LOL

The warning existed a long time and it repeatedly appears sparsely with incidents in cryptocurrency market.

Reminder: do not keep your money in online accounts (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5421039.0). If the attacking method becomes a new trend from governments, this reminder will be cited more but like history shows, it will be forgotten by many people later when that trend cools down.

People who take that reminder into account for their practice, and understand importance of "It's your keys, it's your coins", apply it for their practice, will store their bitcoin safer.

For clarity, the writer was only speculating and the article didn't say if the stolen Bitcoin was going to be used for create a Bitcoin reserve.

Here's my opinion. Just because the US government took a decisive step to create a Bitcoin reserve, does not mean any nation stacking up Bitcoin wants to do same. North Korea is currently under western sanctions for its nuclear weapon programme. The stolen Bitcoin/crypto might be to circumvent the bans and to fuel its nuclear weapon agenda.

We're in a system which controlled by US, that's why the news about China, North Korea and Russia mostly related about bad thing. Just because North Korea is very private and hard to get their information, it doesn't mean you can just justify Lazarus is a part of North Korea's government.

US is actually the biggest country who fund Israel, people should view US as bad country since they're a big part of Israel, this is a fact instead of them accuse North Korea supporting Lazarus.

We are talking about North Korea and I don't think anything is possible without the government noticing in that country so if Lazarus is actually from North Korea then they should be under the government. I don't think North Korea can afford to hold something because they don't really have much to generate income like other countries so they probably spent the hacked funds already to keep the Kim comfortable. ;D

is anyone investigating this group or is their government really just has that impunity and no one can touch them or hold them accountable? surely the international laws should be looking into this, no?
if we all could acquire bitcoin without having to actually buy it with our money, wouldn't that be great? although it would be unethical to do so the way north korea is doing it but i am saying that it only makes sense they would use this method

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Ordinarily I'm surprised myself to read that the Korean government are the brain behind this Lazarus group, like it's a state sponsored attack against a business organization, I've not seen concrete proof on this allegations actually but then the question i Will like to ask is if, before now, the the Korean government has declared that they have such amount of Bitcoin reserve in their coffers or we are just suddenly seeing Such humongous amount of Bitcoin reserve by the Korean government ever since the the Bybit incident happened?

I saw this news some hours ago with a huge surprise, but still, I am no fan of North Korea, if they like they should amass more Bitcoin, no praise here, it's an ill-gotten Bitcoin wealth that should be viewed as non-existent, no thanks to Lazarus group. It's so painful that Ben Zhou would be looking helplessly as evil people are openly flaunting his money as their wealth, that's one of the major cons of decentralised systems.

Just has you have said earlier it is not true, there is no any credible or reliable news outlets that have actually reported any of this news, the only thing we have seen is the Lazarus group are from North Korea which is also been spread by US intelligence and been from a country doesn’t mean that they are sponsored by the government until there is an evidence to that.

Even this propaganda that North Korea bitcoin holdings have grown is still fake to me because the news started spreading immediately after the bybit hack and the investigation that Lazarus Group is behind it, of all this news one thing they haven’t shown is a North Korea bitcoin address that confirms receiving any bitcoin or even shows the wallet balance to confirm it has added numbers.

It's an article by some one giving his opinion but it doesn't mean he's got facts behind his story. They don't have proofs to show which modern country's got bitcoins or how many they're holding so how are they supposed to know what a secretive state like North Korea's got ?

It will be chaos if other countries will start to follow the footsteps of North Korean haha, especially in this matter. It won't only destroy the centralization but the trust of people too and that can't happen openly in USA especially, In China, they can do such a thing.

It will be good but unlike US, North korea don't have big companies, ETFs, and investments in billions of dollars so there acts justifies (it does not mean they are no guilty) but there is no need for USA to do that, Internet is full of articles that says, North Korea Government is behind this group and this hack is done by them.

As far as the news report says - North Korean Government is involved in multiple cryptocurrency hack incidents across the globe. So it's no wonder that their government has become one of the largest Bitcoin holders. But I guess none of it comes from a legit source. North Korean government never accepted that they have purchased Bitcoin from any international broker.

The strangest country for a reason!

They have a large amount of Bitcoin but how they generate it is known to everyone and no powerful country is able to sanction the funding of such a group. I don't want to mention it but until now they are really considered to be operating under the auspices of official authorities, so I'm afraid that the ownership of bitcoin is just a cover to hide their real intentions. Yeah the stolen ETH has been exchanged for Bitcoin some time ago and the OKX Web3 wallet has become a place for Bybit assets to stop and temporarily stop the DEX aggregator operation. Anyone who has used the OKX Web3 wallet is now advised to revoke.
https://www.talkimg.com/images/2025/03/18/0KwDj.png
https://x.com/okx/status/1901457210968023046

In our word together where truth is viewed from Western prism, I wouldn't be so fast to conclude that the Lazarus group are sponsored by the North Korean government even though there could be a possibility. I have seen this allegations several times, and is even the reason mixers are banned in the forum today. But I have learnt to listen to both sides of the story and not jump into conclusion. I know it is convenient to blame North Korea for anything now and anyone can even do anything and use them to divert attention... just mention North Korea and the Lazarus group and the real culprits will walk away freely. I just hope they will not accuse some of our OGs to be part of the Lazarus groups and come for their Bitcoin.

Part of the reasons I have my reservations about some of these allegations is that most of the seizures of Bitcoin made are not attributed to hacks from the Lazarus groups. This means they are not the only hackers terrorizing the digital world so it could be that they are not even that sophisticated after all and possibly innocent of some of these allegations.

I have read so many articles online about this Lazarus group and their relationship with the Korean government. At some point, I was like, "wait a minute, this is the media, they are very good at cooking up stories even though it is true". There have been several accusations of the North Korea government sponsoring the Lazarus, but have North Korea government boldly confirmed that they are pilot incharge?, well I don't think they will even if they are, so until then, it's still an allegation and speculation.

And some part of the thread sounds a little confusing.
Are they actually the third most hodling individual, or the third most holding government entity?(If actually they are the sponsors).
Let's just say that the Lazarus group holds over 13K Bitcoin.

But if actually they are truly incharge of the Lazarus group, then it's quite a sad one. But the surprising thing is the Lazarus group has been active far before so many people started using the internet(2009 according to wiki), and nothing has been done to tackle it. So the conversation about them might literally end here.

Hackers were able to successfully hack a crypto platform, steal on others people's fund and then the government took over, seize the stolen coins and keep it in their reserve.

Now here's what I think:

1. The entire statement above could be true if the North Korean government have something to do with the Lazarus group or they are the group themselves.

2. I don't choose to believe on this because anything coming from US could be a form of attack or with an intention of causing confusion, did news like Aljazeera capture the same incident exactly as it was being said?

Then it disgust calling North Korean the third world heaviest investors when we all know they ha e invest on nothing, instead they are holding confiscated coins just like US.

Let's hope it's not even legit and becomes a trend, because the number of possible nations I see following up this particular thing if it becomes a trend would be the Russians and also Chinese like you said and boy would the impact be massive and a whole lot of people would be affected before any corrections would be done like the move to migrating to DEX.

And I feel this could even affect the market if the hacks become frequent and their targets on big CEX such as binance.

To prove the truth that Lazarus is supported by the North Korean government but we did not find any other sources other than the media saying Lazarus is supported by its own government.
Well that's what I read... the rumor is that with so many hacks Lazarus is doing to finance the country's arsenal, actually this is not certain but we only see from existing news sources.

So when now believe that North Korea has some 13,562 BTC just because the US and some European country Governments said so? We all know the deep hatred the US and the likes have for North Korea and would do anything to justify their propaganda.

Remember how we were always lied about the Weapons of mass destruction in Iraq so that they would get the green light to go and invade a country? Or the case of Afghanistan?

I refused to believe the US bullshit stories. Do we have one Bitcoin address holding 13,562 BTC? The Bitcoins might just be held be different hackers or malicious actors, and so there's nothing like NK being the third-biggest holder.

So the North Korean government is funding the Lazarus group to accumulate BTC for the government, lol, is there a way to prove all of this is true. I know that North Korea is a country that has shut itself from the world and is run by a dictator who does not respect human rights, and the U.S. and its allies hate them for that, but that is not enough reason to point every single hack that has happened in recent times to NK, lol, without any real evidence of it, there are hackers in other countries of the world, including the U.S.

They might be the third largest nation state to own Bitcoin (or have the largest holdings I mean) but they’re a very distant third behind USA and China. That’s one hell of a head start in front of other countries though. Europe is going to be left completely in the dust by their leaders as we transition to a new currency. 

And if truly the Lazarus group, which is said to be the hacker, is sponsored by the North Korean government, it means the hackers will be reporting to the North Korean government, and they could also either have access to the private key or attest both groups have access to the key, that's if the allegations are true, unless the hackers group are acting on their own, and when bodies like that are acting on their own without government backup, they will easily be captured.

I don't believe North Korea has the resources to form people into becoming these uber hackers that find exploits on exchanges or somehow hack into people that run them and then sell the altcoins for BTC and stacks them somewhere. First of all most people must be Chinese, or formed overseas. I think they pick the smartest kids and then brainwash them into how becoming a hacker for the great leader is your duty. And so they spend all day trying to do just that. Some may be successful, but they probably dump the coins for money so Kim can keep living a lavish lifestyle and then peanuts go for the rest. It may also be insiders being bought by NK or proxies of NK to simulate a "hack", basically an inside job and they split proceeds.

But all of that is just a rumor, no one can confirm that the Lazarus hacker group is backed by North Korea, most of the articles are only made by American authorities and we don't know whether it is true or not since America is hostile towards North Korea. But regardless, 13,562 Bitcoin is a large amount, and a group holding that much Bitcoin means they have plans to hold it for an unspecified time before selling it. And my feeling is that they will hoard more Bitcoin in the future by hacking more exchanges, meaning we also have to be more vigilant in storing assets on CEX.

It's a guessing game because it's confidential. Govt's shouldn't announce the numbers of bitcoin's they're holding until they've accumulated as many as they've intended. It's putting them in a solid position if they're using their bitcoin reserves for trades & expenses.

Not they as a nation state but I think it is more accurate to say those stolen bitcoin and cryptocurrencies belong to a single man, Kim Jong Un. In that nation, if anything relates to the state, under the dictatorship regime of Kim Jong Un, it belongs to him.

His nation can be sanctioned, citizens can live in mass powerty but he is living with luxurious life that is contributed considerably by stolen assets including Bitcoin. I am still surprised that media only mentions it as it belong to North Korea state, but not belong to Kim Jong Un.

It's not like sponsored but like official special force operates under the government control. I don't think Lazarus group is an independent group that can separate its operations with North Korea state and Kim Jong Un regime. They do everything by his commands and for him, I am unsure how much they got after Kim Jong Un took those stolen bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, maybe just small awards but with great honor to Kim.

North Korea is not the third on my own list, because the last time I checked North Korea isn't helping crypto adoption in any way, every crypto they own is probably stolen or hijacked since this is the only thing they are good at, there is no news anyway that says North Korea purchased any Bitcoin legally through a crypto exchange.

As per the last hack, I bet they did a good job taking that supply off the market because that is going to be everything they are going to be known for, the supply is off the market but it won't be useful for anyone, all eye are on these sick country called North korea.

I've read many articles, and they all revolve around one headline.

- https://www.techinasia.com/news/north-korea-holds-1-13b-in-bitcoin
- https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/21634593578610
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2kgndwwd7lo
- https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250226

This is the headline for all the news: North Korea becomes 3rd largest government Bitcoin holder after Bybit hack

So these are accusations regarding what happened with the Bybit hack. What's strange is that the Lazarus Group has been accused in numerous previous cases, yet all sources indicate they only hold approximately 13,518 BTC, valued at around US$1.13 billion (Bybit hack).

You called them sick but they are just like every other power oppressing country like the USA,Russia and even China. I think the only difference is that they as a country like doing their things openly and ofcourse the president always like attention when being called an evil man. I would not be even suprised if the actual hack was even carried out by another power and money seeking fuck country.

To be honest, we even suspecting the Korean government to be in support of the Lazarus group to hack exchanges is wrong. Not because an organization is involved ion cyber crime we then tend to say the entire country is sponsoring and involvled in the crimes. There are several criminals from other countries, its noa general reputation issue it is the individual organization that should be fight against. I believe that the Lazarus group are on their own and they have a large number of employed hackers from Korea working for them.

North Korea is a rogue nation so it doesn't really take a long time to conclude that they do sponsor this group, there's already a name for the head of this group already if I recall but still on the run and the names are Korean so it's safe to assume that they're sponsored by North Korea even if it's just an allegation and just seeing how they attack in the west, it's clear that they're against capitalists. Also, remember that Sony hack because they're releasing the movie Dictator which depicts an assassination attempt on the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un? I think that's probably enough evidence that Lazarus group is sponsored by North Korea.

It's a really concerning thing too that North Korea owns this much bitcoin because that can only mean that if bitcoin skyrockets in prices, their stash of bitcoin would actually help them get more funds for their ever growing military threat and now, they can do it more discreetly given that bitcoin is pseudonymous which also helps hide who's the one that's supplying them with weapons.

Lol, i believe that is because all of the many accusations are without any real proof, and i have said that in my last post in this topic. I am not saying there is no group of hackers in North Korea, but i don't agree that all of the recent high profile hacks is done by them. It is like we already have a name on every hack, we are just waiting for it to happen.

North Korea basically helps through this hacking, so I can't really call the Bitcoin they are holding as holding. Because the only holding is El Salvador and those who hold Bitcoin for a long time and hold it faithfully, but suddenly North Korea is holding 13562 Bitcoins, this money comes mainly from the Bybit exchange hacking. So they will change their decision at any moment and sell Bitcoin, El Salvador has been accumulating Bitcoin for a long time. So El Salvador is a country that will definitely hold Bitcoin for a long time in the future and they are buying one Bitcoin every day.
So I can call this Bitcoin holding in North Korea a sick holding.

I don't think North Korea have intention to buy and hodl Bitcoin for a long time to make profit. The country is under severe sanctions that have almost crippled the economy. Hence they are seeking different ways to raise money to fund their budget. Cryptocurrencies seem to be one of the ways they can get money and invade sanctions. According to reports, these hackers are sponsored by the North Korean government to carry out hacks to enable them to raise funds to finance their nuclear programs.


The insinuation that all these hacks are done by the Lazurus Group is just speculation. There has been no concrete proof linking these hacks to the Group. One investigator said that he suspects that it was carried out by the group because the sale of the coins followed similar patterns.

You are making a valid point here, from the looks, as a nation with such sanctions, they would go to any extent to raise funds for their project which has attracted eye's to them for the negative reasons which they still do not want to change from. Maybe doing this could help them raise funds for their project  defying the sanctions on them.
They just thinking sponsoring hackers as you have said could help them realise their goals is just a waste of time because it would not be that easy for them.

I wasn't even aware that the "sizable" portion of Ethereum (per the article linked in the OP) stolen from the ByBit hack was converted to Bitcoin. I've heard some anecdote that, due to that hack, Kim Jong Un now holds more Ethereum than Vitalik.

Things can get ugly for the crypto industry if the pressure mounts for exchanges to blacklist and freeze suspected coins. This is a threat to the fungibility of Bitcoin and other, traceable cryptos, crippling their use as "virtual cash".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2kgndwwd7lo

It's not a threat. If you put a decentralized asset under a centralized control or platform, it becomes a problem as it's no longer decentralized. When those hackers deposited into some platforms that eventually seized the ETH or BTC, they relinquished control.

Bitcoin still honours the original cypherpunk ethos and nothing to do with CEXs and centralized platforms.

Yes, the hacking group is state-sponsored by its regime and that's why there is no vocabulary on them to buy Bitcoin. They only HODL but they don't buy because they steal it from the biggest holders too which are from the reserve of exchanges and legitimate businesses that are involved in this space. IIRC, they're also behind the hacking from the Axie Infinity's massive fund too, I think that's more than half a billion dollars so that should also add to that holdings that they're having and it's likely that it's for their military budgeting.

There is no evidence that the Lazarus Group is linked to North Korea, other than what the US Department of Justice claims. However, assuming this is true, the North Korean government would do this to circumvent the international embargo and secure its needs from the global market. According to Wikipedia, the Lazarus Group began its emergence during the first decade of the 21st century, but well known in 2014 when it launched an attack on Sony Pictures, seen as political retaliation for the company's production of a film about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

If they are a famous and successful hacker group like this, they know how to launder those stolen bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. They actually did it many times in the past but there is always risk of being traced and caught so assume that they won't succeed to launder all those stolen coins.

I don't have any hate toward North Korean people but I dislike Kim Jong Un. He is like a pig that lives luxurious life above poverty of his citizens, it's not how a true national leader is. He only thinks of himself and perhaps his family, other people in his nation are useless and not important with him and his leadership.

Connection between Lazarus Group and North Korean government is only reported by US Department of Justice and other media cited it. I agree that it can be a false accusation, always has probability of false accusation, but I think there is higher chance that this accusation is valid.

It is truly surprising that no government would be open about the amount of bitcoin it holds and no one gives an exact figure for how many bitcoins it has in its reserves. It is possible that these are being held illegally as the North Korean authorities and related groups are concerned about the illegal acquisition of bitcoin and other digital assets. The Lazarus Group, a hacker group linked to North Korea, is widely known for raising illicit funds through bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. They have carried out various cyberattacks including hacking exchanges and other organizations and stealing large amounts of bitcoin.

It's ridiculous that most Western countries and many people say that North Korea is a backward, outdated and poor country, but they are always accused and blamed as the top thieves on the Internet . Meanwhile, to do that requires extensive knowledge, advanced technology and it seems like an impossible task, a task that not many people in the world can do.

People seem to have it drilled into their heads that any statement coming from the US or the West is true and any statement coming from other countries is a lie .
I would not be surprised if any major cyber attack happens in the future and the victims are Western organizations, the perpetrators are none other than hacker groups from North Korea or the North Korean government .  Because that was the default .

Unless a country volunteers info we won't know they're holding bitcoin. North Korea isn't going to tell ppl about the numbers of bitcoin they're holding. There's estimation by reporters but we haven't been given info by govt's so we shouldn't accept it.

News agencies and media outlets in general do not accurately and credibly report information. They all agree that the Lazarus Group is supported by North Korea, without clarifying that this suspicion is based on American allegations for which no one has provided any evidence. Since allegations cannot be based on speculation, the US claims remain questionable until confirmed, especially since North Korea has not said anything about these allegations, which may have confirmed them in one way or another. I do not exonerate North Korea, but I do not have sufficient evidence to convict it of involvement in cybercrime.

If north Korean government could do this or sponsored the group (Lazarus group) whom they thought that hacked bybit, is not in anyway showing transparency or as a government that people termed to be that trusting and relying on carrying out this unsupported act. What impression are they given the general public or are they showing other countries whom may one day think of executing such acts and of course this shows how unsafe a centralized exchange could be if they could start targeting the centralized exchange, gradually it's calling for Decentralized exchange as centralized exchange may seems not to be trusted anymore.

I'm not defending North Korea either, but it's clear that we don't have any concrete evidence that they were behind these attacks. The US Department of Justice and the media have never presented any convincing evidence, how can we easily believe what they say? Personally I only believe if they can provide convincing evidence. But what's interesting is that North Korea has never spoken out about these allegations and it doesn't seem to care about them either. This makes the matter more mysterious but inadvertently creates conditions for the US and the media to take advantage and make baseless accusations.

Based on what you have said, it is unfortunate for the government to be involved in such a criminal act and would also be harassing her citizens who commits crimes as such when they too are guilty of the same offence. Doing this  has given them a bad reputation and as such, no country who hears such would ever want to have anything to do with them because it would be assumed that they are also a partner in crime so they wouldn't want to be seen as such.
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Yeah, they have used their influence for so long to stamp it in people's hearts, even in the movies, it is always the U.S. that is trying to save the world, then some other country are the bad guys, lol.
That is already the default for any hack, 'it is the Lazarus group sponsored by North Korea', and they don't even have to back it up with any proof, because most people are wired to blindly believe what they say.

You can't believe every thing you're reading. Do we know for a fact how many bitcoin's are held by any country including America or North Korea ?

I'm interested in how small investors can adapt after countries become bitcoin whales. It's being traded today by ordinary ppl because it's available. The day countries become whales it's price won't make it possible for small investors & ordinary ppl to buy.

Honestly, for things related to North Korea or China, which sometimes the news is always closed to outside countries, it is a little difficult for me to believe in this whole thing.
The reason is simple because for now wars are not only about taking up arms but also from several other things, one of which is the media and we must be aware that search sources are currently controlled by the US with Google and several other large media so it is difficult to make this a belief that can really be validated.

Lazarus is said to be part of North Korea and the government there is supporting Lazarus but we cannot really believe something like this especially if this is true of course there must be action taken because it has been discovered that Lazarus is part of North Korea and the aggrieved party can take action but until now it has never happened which indicates that the claim that Lazarus is supported by North Korea is also still raw and only based on assumptions.

I don't believe North Korea's holding 13k bitcoin. It's a closed country which don't tell ppl their investment secrets. We can't trust journalists who haven't been inside North Korea speaking about sensitive economic investments like bitcoin.

Bitcoin owned by the United States can be tracked in Arkham, but for North Korea it is still difficult to track.

Some small investors would love to see their country become a bitcoin whale, but the problem is that there are only a few countries to buy bitcoin, usually countries have bitcoin as a result of confiscation from illegal acts.

Hmm, I think you could be right but we also need to understand that many of these news are just to make sure that the people have something agitate on which is a regular norms. This is just an estimated number and North Korea could even more than that or less depending on the information that leaked such a number. I think that claim that North Korea has huge amounts of Bitcoin is as a result of the previous hacks that has been linked to the Lazarus group which is assume to be one of the hackers from North Korea secret service. The number could be true or that might not really be the actual amount owned by North Korea.

Or we need someone to be blame, and it's obvious when the news about a so called state sponsored hacking groups, it did come from the West. And now they have this kind of narratives that it has evolved and involved themselves in the cryptosphere since it's supposedly to be a lot of money to be stolen and keep their country alive from Bitcoin and other crypto that they had allegedly hack.

So we still don't know if it is true, I mean how can a obscure country becoming the top hacking groups in the world? Where did the hackers learn all the tricks when they can't go outside of the country. I know that there has been news years ago about someone from the crypto world goes into the country for summit or something and it was reported that they teach them how to hack. But still though, there are a lot of questions that we don't have the answer because of how secretive this country is.

journalists from north korea, if they even have one, might just be propping the country's image by saying this

all bitcoin transactions can be seen in the blockchain but we do not know to whom are those transactions from so yeah maybe not everything is accurate with such reports north korea could have less or maybe even more bitcoins but no one would know but them i still would not be surprised though if they indeed had this much north korea has been resourceful and despite being such a closed country i think it is not exactly poor

You know what.  Sometimes worse is better.  Not only would it push people to migrate to decentralized services but there is no way Know Your Customer can continue to be enforced if most of the Bitcoin moves through banned addresses.  They can not ban EVERYONE, can they?

Now of course I wish these Bitcoin were at least legitimately earned and not stolen, but in the worst scenario where they become the owners of the largest Bitcoin wallet, at least there are not ONLY bad news for us.

America's officially got 200k bitcoin we don't know the unofficial real figure. It's impossible to know how many bitcoin's are held by North Korea because it's secret closed society.

I'd agree because the hacks were linked to North Korea. We don't know if they've stored bitcoin's or laundered. It's impossible to know how many bitcoin's they've collected. If they've got every hacked bitcoin they'll have more than America.

The journo wasn't from North Korea he's Olumide Adesina is a French-born Nigerian financial writer (https://www.fxleaders.com/news/2025/03/17/north-korea-holds-more-bitcoin-than-el-salvador-bhutan/).

It's not something of security unless there is a law that forbids them from announcing their holdings publicly, but for the time being, most of the time, data analytics are the ones who usually announce the number of coins a country is holding, either through their security check or any form of verification they use in gathering that information. Only some actually do announce their holdings and make it public.

I wouldn't be surprised in the future if we discover that another prestigious entity carried out the hacks they claimed were planned by North Korea. They implicated North Korea to deflect suspicion from themselves, since North Korea is a closed country and has no channels of communication with any party in this regard.

In 2019, the US Treasury has imposed sanctions on entities and individuals associated with the Lazarus Group, explicitly linking them to the North Korean government. In this official doc (https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm774) issued by the US Treasury, there was a mention of  “Lazarus Group,” “Bluenoroff,” and “Andariel” as agencies, instrumentalities, or controlled entities of the Government of North Korea

If the group is really backed by the north korea then that means that the bitcoin that is held by north korea is not bought but by taking funds from platform that is being hacked but if it isn't backed or run by north korea then it's just a speculation. If the country did it and there's an evidence then it will make the country's reputation get bad because of sponsoring a hacker group and as other forum members have said that if other countries are doing the same then many exchange platforms will be in bad situation.

However, the North Korea Bitcoin holding is not something that close to the outside countries and I guess it is not among the list of the things about the country in the subject that's hard for you to believe.
What I don't like about this news is that I believe it may encourage them to do more shady attacks on big BTC holders so they shouldn't be counted as the third largest holder because their holding is not accumulated through legal means.

The media are not to be blamed though.
Because what the media is doing is following the order given to them by the humpback whale which also controls the President and the most powerful government official.

I'm saying they'll say one thing in public but they'll do some thing else for govt policy. If they're saying they've got 10k btc they'll probably have more. Govt's don't say every thing to journalists because they don't want other countries to copy their formula.

They have been disconnected to the whole world and only have a few allies near to them, China and Russia. And just like the two allies they've got, they are free to do whatever they want to their people and get involved and support these kinds of activities if that is one means of them getting a larger pool of funds. These citizens they have that are working for them, if they go against to their supreme leader that asks them to do this, they're dead together with their loved ones and that's based on the stories that I've watched.

They have limited allies and if they want to sell their bitcoins, they have to do it secretly and ilegally too. They can not publicly announce that they sell stolen bitcoins and cryptocurrencies to either China or Russia government. They will never announce it and they will try to use mixers before finishing their trade deals with either China or Russia government.

Surely the North Korea government and Kim Jong Un will spend those stolen assets for something, just matter of time and how they will do it.

These are just speculations, I don't like the way the media spread information about North Korea. There is a reason why thag country try as much as possible doesn't want to associate with the rest of the world and if it's Bitcoin, those Lazarus are possibly some group of people and may not be related to North Korea but because North Korea is been fame by the western countries of their lack of democracy and dictatorship, they make it looks like they are the one.

Not even an organization like FBI and CIA with special intelligence has said the relationship between Lazarus and North Korea. The country is run by people and most of the Bitcoin they claimed to be hack by them, they know it's for people and not from another government. I'm not sure a leader will want to go around stealing Bitcoin just to prove something to her people and in sure even UN and other organizations will be worried about the funds so they fuel their nuclear weapons.

It's hard to get information about the country of North Korea, it's very secretive. There won't be any media willing to go there unless it just continues to be a rumor.

It is difficult to reveal this, because Lazarus continues to be associated with North Korea.
Regarding Lazarus, of course they wash more, but what North Korea has is still mysterious.

What I mean in this case about trust that is not one hundred percent is when the news outside is sometimes cornered by North Korea, which we know that in the end this claim is difficult to prove because they are always closed to the outside world, which makes it difficult for us to believe 100 percent whether the current news is really happening or not because there is no reply or even any rebuttal from North Korea which is indeed used as a target, especially when there is the horrendous name Lazarus.


This is what ultimately makes it difficult for us to digest whether in the end the news from the media is right or wrong because we know that for now every big country has its own interests and the weapons they have today are not only heavy weapons that are ready to destroy a city with missiles or nukes but also in other ways including in the economy and also the supporting media.

Currently claims appear about Lazarus being financed by North Korea appearing from several major media outlets but in the end things like this also cannot be proven with certainty whether these claims can be trusted or not which makes it difficult for us to judge something because we are not sure about the truth.

That's the sad thing about the media, and the sad truth about everything is that we only see what the big players want us to see. Besides, everything is fabricated, and that includes the food we eat today they are all fake because the world is controlled by a certain group of organizations that only do what will favor them and any one or country that wants to go against them will be tarnished.
I believe this is what you're trying to say about the situation of the Lazarus accused which we don't know if the whole story is true

Media mostly portrays North Korea negatively and it is possible that Lazarus Group well known hacking group is not directly connected to North Korean government. However FBI has linked North Korea to massive Bitcoin hack worth $1.5 billion which they call "TraderTraitor". Reports also show that North Korea now holds significant amount of Bitcoin. This raises important point that country may use stolen cryptocurrency to fund its military and nuclear programs. By the way North Korean government might not be directly involved in Bitcoin hacking evidence suggests possible connection between Lazarus Group and North Korean regime. It is important to carefully evaluate these claims and consider multiple sources before forming opinion.

The media portrays North Korea negatively because there is nothing positive to report about North Korea basically. So it doesn't matter if you think the media is propaganda or not, North Korea is just a terrible regime. Even if some news may be exaggerated sometimes, the propaganda that exaggerates these news will be more often than not more accurate than the North Korea apologetic which are the same that also stand with Russia. The usual suspects.
In this case, if NK is profiting from ramsonware, it isn't a great look for Bitcoin. We just had the SEC havin a meeting on digital assets like a few days ago and someone was bringing the point of ransomware. They reported how ramsonware is at all time highs and the new paradigm for this is basically crypto, and that is the truth. What they should explain is that thanks to BTC a lot of people can save their savings from being decimated by these regimes, at least the ones with internet connection like Venezuela, so basically, it is a double edged sword, and that is how it should be explained. Trying to paint the bad usage of BTC always as some sort of conspiracy isn't realistic.

It's impossible to get any verified info from North Korea because it's secretive. It's the reason journalists say things but there isn't any fact behind it because they're going by guesses. We shouldn't believe the words of journalists unless there's stats for their work.

Actually its really hard to find that information and usually they are not usually disclosing anything in public regarding to what real situation happening in their country especially on their finances.

What we can usually see is those hacking incident which is related to them and maybe those numbers has been count by certain investigator or speculators that's why they come up with those figure and think about that they are holding such huge volume.

Anyways I don't know what will be the effect of having that volume since North Korea is not open in their participation on Bitcoin and crypto. So provably what's going to happen there is they would dump those balances once they need immediate money to buy some resources for their country.

It's why I'm saying we shouldn't accept every part of info journalists report. It's about North Korea they're a secret society so how did the journalist get the info about the bitcoins. They don't saying any thing in public to journalists about their finances.

I am not sure that it will be the last target of Lazarus, maybe there are many more targets they are examining their weaknesses and will rob the wealth of people in their potential lin that has a much greater potential.

The truth is supported by the North Korean government indeed sounds real, because the North Korean government does not search for arrests for the person behind Lazarus, we see that the Bybit case yesterday the suspect could be uploaded to the media and it could be the basis for Korea to help to search in its citizens, but the fact was not even indifferent to that information.

We always welcome the idea of ​​decentralization very well, yes we can only hope that people can learn better than any mistakes like this which is a reminder that Bitcoin if saved in exchange or third party will be very possible  fraud.

The information that North Korea owns 13,562 bitcoins looks doubtful. Although there is evidence that the country is indeed engaged in cyber attacks and possibly accumulating cryptocurrency to circumvent sanctions, there is no confirmed data on such a number of bitcoins, as far as I know. Most likely, these are rumors or speculations. If true, it highlights how cryptocurrencies can be used to finance isolated regimes.

They won't announce it because they don't have to and if they will sell, they can do it anytime they wish to. They even converted a large portion of these hacked funds into other cryptos already. And now knowing that this is a state-backed group, there will be more of them. Imagine a country that has a huge funds that came from stealing, not new right? but their terms and ways are.

Well, this big boy wants big toys and that's why it will surely go to those. And when I say big toys, it's for the military for him to get still in his position and these people will be scared of his reign and continue to follow his orders.

It's unfortunate to hear this aspect of their rules of going against their supreme leader. Does such rules still exists in this modern world or this generation? How cruel could it be to the people to forcefully go against their own will just to please someone who does not care if they are alive or not. What a dictator he is to put his subjects under untold hardship causing them to do his bidding without any questions. It is quite unfortunate.

Well, their families are being hostaged legally by their own government. So, if a person doesn't follow orders there, it's always been pointed to their families as well. It's not only them that will be punished but it's going to be with many others. That's why he's called a dictator and that's not just some media propaganda but it's a real thing and coming from the escaped NK citizens, they have chose to runaway from there while leaving their families not knowingly what could happen to them.

Hahaa, no doubt about it. We cannot know who the next victim will be, how the hack will take place, and when...but it is almost certain that Lazarus and the North Korean government will be the masterminds behind the next attack we are waiting for. The US Department of Justice must have prepared many dispatches, as soon as there is news of any hacks, they just need to fill in the name of the victim and announce that there are investigation results  ;D ;D ;D.

North Korea could own more than 13k bitcoins. They aren't going make announcements about the things they're doing so the journalist couldn't write the piece based on fact. It was guess work. He didn't write wallet addresses so why's he being taken seriously if he hasn't presented evidence ?

Are you North Korean or have relatives there? It's amazing how you seem to know so much about what's going on there while the rest of the world is curious to know what's going on in North Korea. As ajiz138 said above: it is very difficult to get information about North Korea and what goes on there is almost a secret to us.

Honestly, I don't know the news about their citizens fleeing the country and reporting what's happening there. But I am also quite skeptical about such news because it is not difficult for politicians to make up a story and spread it so that people believe it. Aside from the news provided by the West, are there any reliable sources of information to learn about what is going on in North Korea?

According to my understanding of the articles, it seems that the Korean government supports the lazarus group. Isn't this the one that has become a prime suspect in the hacking issue that happened with bybit recently?

So, does this mean that the Korean government supports the bad things that the lazarus group is doing in hacking cryptocurrencies? They are tolerating hackers who are committing thefts on large crypto exchanges in the crypto space industry. Because if Yes, they will have bitcoin holdings that they do not release a large amount of money because they come from the hackers' hacks on large platforms.

In the age of digital tech we're waiting for reliable sources of info in secret societies like North Korea. I understand why ppl fleeing to SK are saying stories about their lives but the journalist who's written it doesn't know how many bitcoin are owned by NK. It's guessing numbers. It's why the news shouldn't be important.

So if the world going to adopt Bitcoin, we may be seeing North Korea being one of the rich country that might be able to trade with his friends without sanctions anymore from US because his friends are also rich in BTC.

Whether the way to have gotten their BTC is illegal or not, its now theirs. They can chose to mix it or just keep it that way but is the world really going to show we can block a BTC transaction coming from them?

Is that all that is to Bitcoin adoption or what should really slow it down? That the Lazarus group would continue in their way of crime only to enrich North Korea?

Perhaps the sanctions that might come as a result of this isn’t entirely effective but then, it stress the need on why exchanges and other centralized systems within the cryptocurrency space should have a right network and security on their platforms.

I wonder though, if they know this much as to the source of the hack and sponsorship, what’s being done about it?

If countries which America doesn't like collects & saves bitcoin's for their reserve they'll consider blocking or banning it to weaken the other countries. If Trump's in a bad mood he wouldn't hesitate to take away all benefits he's given to our crypto community. We don't know how many bitcoin's they've got but it doesn't stop ppl saying.

This is kind of insane for the government to legally hold families hostage and compelling them to do things against their will and also holding them to ransom just because their family member did not support the government activities and actions.
It's unfortunate that he could be this cruel even to his family members and friends without having a second thought about his actions and not minding the consequences in the future.  Maybe the government would do much better without their citizens since they do not value them.