The Wall Street Journal

How North Korea Cheated Its Way to Crypto Billions

More than $6 billion from heists highlights the sophistication of cyber operations funneling cash to Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program

Illustration of a computer with a North Korean military hat on top, displaying lines of code on the screen.
Illustration: Alexandra Citrin-Safadi/WSJ; iStock

At 11:49 a.m. on July 18, North Korean hackers pounced on a major cryptocurrency exchange handling hundreds of millions of dollars. 

The hackers slipped into the exchange’s virtual vault, took control and then started pilfering cryptocurrency tokens. Within a little more than an hour, the hackers had disappeared—and with them, more than $200 million for the Kim Jong Un regime. 

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