Crypto news

The leaders of the G7 at the summit in Évian adopted a tough statement aimed at countering cyber threats from North Korea. The focus is on an unprecedented rise in cryptocurrency thefts, which, according to my data, have already become the main source of funding for Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

The G7 heads emphasized the need for consolidated efforts to combat hacker groups affiliated with North Korea. However, as I expected, the document does not contain specific mechanisms or new sanctions measures for the crypto industry. This is a serious gap: without a clear regulatory framework and international intelligence sharing on attackers' wallets, the situation will only worsen.

The scale of the threat is confirmed by Chainalysis analytics: in 2025, North Korean hackers stole $2.02 billion in digital assets — a 51% increase from the previous year. The total volume of stolen funds in history has exceeded $6.75 billion. These figures indicate that Pyongyang has turned cryptocurrencies into a strategic resource, bypassing international sanctions.

Note: the explosive 51% year-over-year increase in thefts is not just statistics. It is evidence that traditional methods of cybersecurity and transaction blocking are failing to keep pace with the evolution of North Korean hackers' tactics. The use of mixers, cross-chain bridges, and decentralized exchanges makes tracking funds nearly impossible without coordinated actions across all jurisdictions.

Expert conclusion: As long as the G7 limits itself to declarations, North Korean groups such as Lazarus will continue to attack crypto exchanges and DeFi protocols. The only way to reverse the trend is to implement mandatory address verification at the blockchain level and create a global "blacklist" of wallets recognized as linked to North Korea. Without this, the market risks losing the trust of institutional investors.