North Korean Hackers’ Bitcoin Holdings Surpass Those of El Salvador and Bhutan

The North Korean hacker group Lazarus currently holds 13,518 BTC (valued at $1.13 billion at the time of writing), surpassing the amounts held in the government wallets of Bhutan or El Salvador. This is according to data from Arkham Intelligence.

For comparison, Bhutan holds 10,635 BTC. The kingdom is actively increasing its reserves through mining, utilizing its abundant hydroelectric resources.

El Salvador holds 6,118 BTC. The country has recognized the first cryptocurrency as legal tender and regularly purchases coins and has engaged in mining.

Analysts link the significant bitcoin reserves of Lazarus to the hack of the Bybit cryptocurrency exchange in late February, which amounted to $1.4 billion. The hackers laundered most of the stolen ether, primarily using the DeFi protocol THORChain.

In addition to bitcoins, the group holds other cryptocurrencies worth about $30 million, including Ethereum, BNB, DAI, and BUSD.

The largest holder of digital gold remains the United States with 198,109 BTC. The country is preparing to create a bitcoin reserve using crypto assets seized in criminal and civil proceedings.

The United Kingdom holds 61,245 BTC, according to Arkham.

According to Chainalysis, in 2024, North Korean hackers stole crypto assets worth $1.34 billion. The UN has estimated that about half of North Korea’s foreign currency income is obtained through cyberattacks. These funds are reportedly used for weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.

Earlier, ForkLog reported that the crypto exchange OKX halted the operation of its decentralized exchange aggregator to prevent “further abuse” by Lazarus.