G7 declares war on crypto-sponsored nuclear threat from North Korea
Leaders of the G7 countries at the summit in Évian made a sharp statement, calling for coordinated action against cryptocurrency thefts carried out by hacker groups linked to North Korea. The final document explicitly states that stolen digital assets are becoming a financial pillar for Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.
However, despite the strong rhetoric, the G7 did not propose specific mechanisms for regulating the crypto sector. This raises questions: how effective will these measures be without strict sanctions against mixers and exchanges that are actively used by North Korean operators to launder funds?
The scale of the threat is confirmed by data from the analytical firm Chainalysis: in 2025, hackers affiliated with North Korea stole $2.02 billion worth of cryptocurrency. This is 51% more than the previous year's figure. The total volume of stolen assets over the entire observation period has already exceeded $6.75 billion.
My expert assessment: A 51% increase in a year is not a coincidence, but the result of systematic work by entire state structures. While the G7 limits itself to declarations, North Korean hackers continue to refine their methods of social engineering and attacks on DeFi protocols. Without the introduction of mandatory verification for all P2P transactions and the blocking of mixers at the level of global regulators, this figure could double again by 2026.