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RUSI warns North Korea launders stolen crypto through crime networks
RUSI estimates North Korea stole at least $2.8 billion in crypto from January 2024 to September 2025 and increasingly routes proceeds into laundering channels tied to scam and organized crime activity.
A British think tank says North Korea has been leaning on established criminal networks to cash out stolen cryptocurrency, making it harder for compliance teams to distinguish proliferation-linked finance from ordinary laundering, according to a paper by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) reviewed by Decrypt.
RUSI estimates the regime stole at least $2.8 billion in virtual assets between January 2024 and September 2025, with funds it says are assumed to support its weapons programme.
The paper focuses on how proceeds get converted to cash, including cases where third parties buy stolen coins at a discount or where stolen funds appear mixed with proceeds from investment scams such as pig butchering.
RUSI also points to cashing-out relying on money mules recruited mainly in the Philippines, Indonesia, and China, and says investigators have found overlaps with over-the-counter and peer-to-peer trading networks used to move funds after major crypto incidents such as the February 2025 Bybit hack.