Is the North Korean government engaging in bitcoin mining?

[waqarkahloon]

Information recently surfaced that someone in North Korea has started mining bitcoin. According to Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, on May 17 North Korea initiated a rather large mining operation. Prior to this date, there was minimal bitcoin node activity in the country.
https://news.bitcoin.com/north-korea-begins-bitcoin-mining-operation/
Some people think that north korean governmnet engaging in bitcoin mining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCBM51-bbc8
whats your opinion is it dangerous for Bitcoin or good as UN and USA have strong sanctions against NK.

[BingoDog]

Somehow I don't believe that NK government is involved in bitcoin. They are type of country who might ban the bitcoin, not use it. But even if they are doing that they will do it secretly but still US sanctions against them will not influence the price in negativne way.

[BTCIV]

I think they are but again USA put so mutch pressure on them now i don't think they have much influence

[waqarkahloon]

there is big money in it. If north Korea can make big money from this why cannot they benefit from this as their economy is already down because of sanctions so they see bitcoin a big chance to earn notable money

[waqarkahloon]

there is big money in it. If north Korea can make big money from this why cannot they benefit from this as their economy is already down because of sanctions so they see bitcoin a big chance to earn notable money

USA cannot stop NK as it can only need internet connection so they can mine it at state level

[Slark]

If officials in North Korea decided that they want to mine bitcoin, then no one will be able to stop them.
North Korea is known for doing some crazy shit in the past, they were engaged in the creation of Superdollar, perfectly counterfeited USDollars in the past.
It is strange that they only realized Bitcoin's potential so late. I was quite sure they were secretly mining bitcoin since 2013.

[European Central Bank]

it doesn't really make any sense to me.

they'd have to spend millions in hard currency to buy the machines, allocate a load of their mediocre power structure to run it and might never get their investment back.

they forge dollars and smuggle crystal meth and heroin in diplomatic bags. that and the insurance fraud they do is way more profitable.

[waqarkahloon]

agree with you. They always take advantage of every growing thing even all world is against that thing. so is the BTC case as mostly countries declared it illegal but they are dong it at may be state level creating big money.

[waqarkahloon]

it doesn't really make any sense to me.

they'd have to spend millions in hard currency to buy the machines, allocate a load of their mediocre power structure to run it and might never get their investment back.

they forge dollars and smuggle crystal meth and heroin in diplomatic bags. that and the insurance fraud they do is way more profitable.

you can say that but a big increase of mining from korea is seen. what u can say about that? Can not NK make these machines by their self if they can make missile ?

[Yakamoto]

Information recently surfaced that someone in North Korea has started mining bitcoin. According to Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, on May 17 North Korea initiated a rather large mining operation. Prior to this date, there was minimal bitcoin node activity in the country.
https://news.bitcoin.com/north-korea-begins-bitcoin-mining-operation/
Some people think that north korean governmnet engaging in bitcoin mining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCBM51-bbc8
whats your opinion is it dangerous for Bitcoin or good as UN and USA have strong sanctions against NK.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is some mining going on within NK since they basically have no trade beyond China and there are already tons of sanctions against their country which make it incredibly difficult to trade on the larger world stage. Having something with a lot more value than their own currency (and lack of every other currency, aside from some trade goods), such as Bitcoin, is a massive boost to their economy as soon as the first few dollars start to come through the door. My question is where they got the equipment to start mining Bitcoin, or other cryptos, and what their hashing power is. I want to believe it isn't anything huge, but they could have imported some (or lots of) GPUs or ASICs from China.

[Periodik]

There was this guy which I think was a BBC staff. He went to North Korea to experience and see things. In the heart of the city condominiums also exist. What struck me is people use stairways as electricity is very unstable and they have bad experiences being stranded in elevators. Well actually it's been known even before that they don't have enough power supply and it includes Pyongyang. It is still possible that they are funding to mine cryptocurrencies but it should be outside Nokor.  

[2tang]

Information recently surfaced that someone in North Korea has started mining bitcoin. According to Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, on May 17 North Korea initiated a rather large mining operation. Prior to this date, there was minimal bitcoin node activity in the country.
https://news.bitcoin.com/north-korea-begins-bitcoin-mining-operation/
Some people think that north korean governmnet engaging in bitcoin mining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCBM51-bbc8
whats your opinion is it dangerous for Bitcoin or good as UN and USA have strong sanctions against NK.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is some mining going on within NK since they basically have no trade beyond China and there are already tons of sanctions against their country which make it incredibly difficult to trade on the larger world stage. Having something with a lot more value than their own currency (and lack of every other currency, aside from some trade goods), such as Bitcoin, is a massive boost to their economy as soon as the first few dollars start to come through the door. My question is where they got the equipment to start mining Bitcoin, or other cryptos, and what their hashing power is. I want to believe it isn't anything huge, but they could have imported some (or lots of) GPUs or ASICs from China.

They easily get it through the black market, no matter how much we speculate but I think it's really done by north korea, we can only guess because north korea is closing all their information and not even in search of google.

Roughly about hashrate and all the mines they use are definitely big because only their government can do all that. So far we have always asked what business they are doing so that it can produce war equipment and stabilize the country's sovereignty, bitcoin mining is a reasonable answer.

[waqarkahloon]

Information recently surfaced that someone in North Korea has started mining bitcoin. According to Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, on May 17 North Korea initiated a rather large mining operation. Prior to this date, there was minimal bitcoin node activity in the country.
https://news.bitcoin.com/north-korea-begins-bitcoin-mining-operation/
Some people think that north korean governmnet engaging in bitcoin mining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCBM51-bbc8
whats your opinion is it dangerous for Bitcoin or good as UN and USA have strong sanctions against NK.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is some mining going on within NK since they basically have no trade beyond China and there are already tons of sanctions against their country which make it incredibly difficult to trade on the larger world stage. Having something with a lot more value than their own currency (and lack of every other currency, aside from some trade goods), such as Bitcoin, is a massive boost to their economy as soon as the first few dollars start to come through the door. My question is where they got the equipment to start mining Bitcoin, or other cryptos, and what their hashing power is. I want to believe it isn't anything huge, but they could have imported some (or lots of) GPUs or ASICs from China.

yes they can purchase it from china.. what u think cannot they design and make GPUs and ASICs in NK when they can design and make Missiles?

[waqarkahloon]

There was this guy which I think was a BBC staff. He went to North Korea to experience and see things. In the heart of the city condominiums also exist. What struck me is people use stairways as electricity is very unstable and they have bad experiences being stranded in elevators. Well actually it's been known even before that they don't have enough power supply and it includes Pyongyang. It is still possible that they are funding to mine cryptocurrencies but it should be outside Nokor.  

i think that may be media FUD

[eaLiTy]

I am not sure about the authenticity of the information but it is highly possible that they could undertake a heavy investment and start mining as Kim Jong-un is the final word and since he rules the entire country and he is in his early 30s so he understands how technology works and  he could understand the profit that he could earn by investing in mining,so it is possible they are doing that.

[European Central Bank]

you can say that but a big increase of mining from korea is seen. what u can say about that? Can not NK make these machines by their self if they can make missile ?

they imported the missile engines. the nuclear stuff probably came from pakistan. the country is a ruin.

there's no way in hell they have the skills to make an asic chip.

and it still doesn't make any economic sense. they're outright criminals and there's way more money to be made doing that.

[Yakamoto]

Information recently surfaced that someone in North Korea has started mining bitcoin. According to Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, on May 17 North Korea initiated a rather large mining operation. Prior to this date, there was minimal bitcoin node activity in the country.
https://news.bitcoin.com/north-korea-begins-bitcoin-mining-operation/
Some people think that north korean governmnet engaging in bitcoin mining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCBM51-bbc8
whats your opinion is it dangerous for Bitcoin or good as UN and USA have strong sanctions against NK.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is some mining going on within NK since they basically have no trade beyond China and there are already tons of sanctions against their country which make it incredibly difficult to trade on the larger world stage. Having something with a lot more value than their own currency (and lack of every other currency, aside from some trade goods), such as Bitcoin, is a massive boost to their economy as soon as the first few dollars start to come through the door. My question is where they got the equipment to start mining Bitcoin, or other cryptos, and what their hashing power is. I want to believe it isn't anything huge, but they could have imported some (or lots of) GPUs or ASICs from China.

yes they can purchase it from china.. what u think cannot they design and make GPUs and ASICs in NK when they can design and make Missiles?

Making a missile is a lot different than making an efficient and cost-effective ASIC or GPU. Missiles were around during the second world war; we didn't have GPUs or ASICs under the last few decades. CPUs are easier to make, and that's the main component in a modern missile's navigation systems. Not a 1080 TI or S7. Both of those are highly specialized. But there is a chance they're making their own. Whether or not they're efficient is a different story. Plus a lot of the technology for missiles is already available through other countries, a lot of things can be made cheaply and without fancy equipment. Nuclear missiles were around when computers were the sizes of rooms; an ASIC can't be that big and mine well.

[Niya]

There are lots of Chinese people in North Korea. So it is more likely that would be Chinese miners.
Pretty strange though, because, from what I know, North Korea is not so powerful country regarding electricity...

[Betwrong]

Information recently surfaced that someone in North Korea has started mining bitcoin. According to Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, on May 17 North Korea initiated a rather large mining operation. Prior to this date, there was minimal bitcoin node activity in the country.
https://news.bitcoin.com/north-korea-begins-bitcoin-mining-operation/
Some people think that north korean governmnet engaging in bitcoin mining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCBM51-bbc8
whats your opinion is it dangerous for Bitcoin or good as UN and USA have strong sanctions against NK.

Whoever engages in bitcoin mining it is good for Bitcoin. I don't support North Korean politics and I know that by mining Bitcoin they are going to make themselves stronger, but on the other hand, who knows what is behind the other miners? I think this shouldn't bother Bitcoin community who and for what purposes mines Bitcoin. There are special departments in every country who's job to care about that.

[bryant.coleman]

There are lots of Chinese people in North Korea. So it is more likely that would be Chinese miners.
Pretty strange though, because, from what I know, North Korea is not so powerful country regarding electricity...

Even in the major cities such as Rason and Pyongyang, the electricity supply is very erratic, and in normal cases people don't expect the supplies for more than 4 hours every day. And another aspect is regarding the internet. Somewhere I learnt that there are less than 1,000 internet users in North Korea, and most of them are hackers working for the dictatorship.