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

[Ryu_Ar1]

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.

[arabspaceship123]

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.

[ajiz138]

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.

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.

[Wakate]

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.

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.

[Baofeng]

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.

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.

[Reatim]

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.

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

[PrivacyG]

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

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.

[arabspaceship123]

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

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 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.

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.

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

The journo wasn't from North Korea he's Olumide Adesina is a French-born Nigerian financial writer.

[Nwada001]

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.

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.

[coupable]

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.

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.

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.

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 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

[nakamura12]

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.

[suzanne5223]

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.

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 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.

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.

[arabspaceship123]

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.

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.

[tabas]

Does this mean that the North Korean Government is deliberately avoiding to buy Bitcoin for their national reserve or what? A

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.

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.

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.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

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.

[Antotena]

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.

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.

[ajiz138]

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[Ryu_Ar1]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[suzanne5223]

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.

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.

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.

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

[ThemePen]

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.

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.