G7 declared war on North Korean crypto hackers: the scale of the threat has reached record levels
At the summit in Évian, leaders of the G7 countries adopted a joint statement, with a key emphasis on the need for coordinated action against cryptocurrency thefts and cybercrimes originating from the DPRK. The document underscores that the activities of North Korean hackers pose a direct threat not only to the global financial system but also to international security, given the link between these attacks and Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.
Notably, despite the tough rhetoric, the G7 did not propose specific mechanisms or separate regulatory measures for the cryptocurrency sector. This leaves room for maneuver but simultaneously raises questions about the practical implementation of the stated intentions. In my view, without the introduction of unified standards for transaction tracking and intelligence sharing between jurisdictions, the declarations risk remaining mere political statements.
The scale of the threat is confirmed by data from the analytical platform Chainalysis. In 2025 alone, hacker groups affiliated with the DPRK stole cryptocurrencies worth $2.02 billion. This figure is 51% higher than the results of the previous year. The total volume of digital assets stolen by North Korean malicious actors over the entire observation period is estimated at least at $6.75 billion.
As a leading analyst, I emphasize: these figures demonstrate that the DPRK has turned the cryptocurrency sector into its primary source of funding for prohibited programs. Without real, not just declarative, steps from the G7, we risk witnessing a further escalation of this threat, which already exceeds traditional forms of cybercrime in scale.