North Korea holds 13,562 making the government the third largest Bitcoin holders

[arabspaceship123]

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 ?

News has it that North Korean Government holds 13,562 Bitcoin making the government the third largest Bitcoin holders in the world

[Faisal2202]

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

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.

[avikz]

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!

[hyudien]

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://x.com/okx/status/1901457210968023046

[Odohu]

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

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.

[Felicity_Tide]

~snip

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.

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.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

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.

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.

[DaNNy001]

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
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

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.

[BABY SHOES]

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.

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.

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.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

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.

[Z-tight]

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.

[OgNasty]

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. 

[Hazink]

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.

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.

[takuma sato]

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.

[retreat]

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.

[arabspaceship123]

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.

[notocactus]

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.  

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.

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.

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.

[Outhue]

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.

[hugeblack]

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).

[Jaycoinz]

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.

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.