North Korea has accumulated more than $ 1 billion Bitcoin (BTC) following the recent hacking of the Crypto Exchange Bybit, which saw more than $ 1.5 billion taken from the portfolios of the platform.
North Korea among the best nations with Bitcoin
The Lazarus group of North Korea has become one of the biggest Bitcoin holders in the world after the Hack of Massive Bybit on February 21. Arkham’s data show that the hacking group linked to North Korea has accumulated a significant amount of crypto through its exploits.
According to data, the Lazare group now holds 13,518 bitcoin, worth $ 1.15 billion at current prices, most of these assets added last month. The chain data platform shows that from February 22 to February 24, the hacking group added around 13,000 BTC and has held more than 14,000 Bitcoin, valued at around 1.5 billion dollars until last week.
Lazarus Group's BTC holdings. Source: Arkham
For the context, Bybit, one of the greatest exchanges of cryptography, underwent the greatest feat ever recorded almost a month ago. The exchange based in Dubai lost $ 1.5 billion in Ethereum (ETH) in the hands of the North Korean hacking group, as revealed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and various security platforms.
The pirates began to whiten the funds via different platforms, bringing around 400,000 ETH to Bitcoin via Thorchain by March 3. While the Blockchain intelligence platform explained that TMR explained: “The North Koreans finished the initial phase of whitening by bybit.
Consequently, the hiding place of North Korea has now exceeded other nations which hold Bitcoin like El Salvador and Bhutan, which have 6,118 BTC and 10,634 BTC respectively. In addition, their BTC participations are now behind the 198 109 BTC in the United States and the 61,245 BTC in the United Kingdom.
BTC strategic reserve funded by exploits?
The co-founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, reacted to the news on X. He responded to a position declaring that North Korea is the third largest nation holding the flagship crypto, jokingly jokingly.
“Different ways to build a strategic cryptography reserve,” said CZ, noting that, unlike the highest governments that have acquired the BTC through purchases or crises, North Korea has accumulated their cryptographic bases through illegal activities.
Nevertheless, many members of the community consider CZ’s suggestion as a reasonable suspicion in the middle of the global push to establish reserves of cryptographic assets at the national level. As reported by Bitcoinist, US President Donald Trump recently signed an executive decree to create an SBR with the country’s seized BTC and “digital asset storage”.
This initiative has received significant support from the Republican legislators who have introduced several legislation to codify the president’s decree and establish reservations of crypto at the national level and the State.
Meanwhile, other countries have remained skeptical about the development of an SBR. Recently, the chief of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) rejected the idea of adding BTC to his national reserves, citing his price fluctuations as a major concern.
Likewise, the Korean Bank (Bok) recently revealed that it had “discussed or examined the possible inclusion of bitcoin in the exchange reserve” and that a “prudent approach is necessary” due to the volatility of the asset.
Bitcoin is trading at $82,976 in the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
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