North Korea’s Crypto-Hacking Bender

This week, a panel of experts told the UN Security Council that in the past three years, North Korea has stolen $670 million in crypto and foreign currency in a string of cyber bank robberies, according to documents scooped by the Nikkei Asian Review.

Backstory: Pyongyang’s been sanctioned for its nuclear program and cut off from the global financial system...so it’s stealing from others online to make up for it.

• North Korea’s also suspected of abusing the blockchain to circumvent foreign sanctions and launder money.

How this happened: Despite its underdeveloped digital infrastructure, North Korea has an elite unit of military hackers that has successfully staged cyber hit-and-runs at Asian crypto exchanges, Bangladesh’s central bank, a Chilean ATM network, and India’s Cosmos Bank. Who else can't wait for Ocean’s Fourteen?

Big picture: The theft—and trade—of hijacked cryptocurrencies puts Pyongyang in some illicit company. But North Korean military hackers’ high profile could accelerate the crackdown on anonymous, decentralized, and unregulated blockchain-based currencies...for everyone.