North Korea fifth in the world for Bitcoin

According to the latest available data, North Korea is the fifth country in the world by number of Bitcoin held.

The first are still the USA, with almost 200,000 BTC, followed by China with 190,000. In these two cases, it is about Bitcoin confiscated during judicial cases. 

In third place, far behind, is the United Kingdom with more than 61,000 BTC, always the result of judicial confiscations. In fourth place, however, is Ukraine (more than 46,000 BTC) received mainly as donations. 

The Bitcoin of North Korea 

In fifth place, North Korea emerges, with more than 13,500 BTC, for a current value in dollars exceeding 1.1 billion. 

Note that North Korea’s GDP is approximately 16 billion dollars, so the current value of the Bitcoin they hold is equal to 6.3% of the GDP.

These BTC, however, are not the result of confiscations, donations, or purchases, but of actual thefts. 

In fact, they come from the illicit activities of the notorious hacker group Lazarus Group, which, despite carrying out criminal activities around the world, is not only tolerated at home but probably also supported by the government of dictator Kim Jong-un.

And so, thanks to the “State” thefts by the Lazarus Group, North Korea is in fifth place in the current global ranking of countries holding the most Bitcoin, despite, for example, being in 140th place for GDP, alongside Laos and Afghanistan.

The other States that hold Bitcoin

There are only two other countries in the world that hold more than a thousand Bitcoin, Bhutan (more than 10,000 BTC) and El Salvador (more than 6,000).

Bhutan is the only among the major states in the world to hold Bitcoin to have mined them, while El Salvador is the only one to have purchased them.

So the three countries in the world that hold the most Bitcoin have obtained them from judicial confiscations, while the fourth has obtained them mainly from donations. 

The fifth obtained them primarily through State thefts, the seventh through mining, and only the eighth through actual purchases on the market. 

Until recently, Germany was also among the top three, having obtained them always through judicial confiscations, but last year it sold them all. 

The State Theft 

The most sensational State theft by the Lazarus Group is the one that occurred recently against the crypto exchange Bybit.

Not only was it the largest crypto theft ever in terms of dollar value, but it was probably also the single most valuable theft in all of human history, if calculated in nominal value. 

They managed to unlawfully withdraw more than 400,000 ETH from the exchange’s wallets, for a total equivalent of about 1.5 billion dollars at the time of the theft.

In total, on February 22, Lazarus Group was found to hold on its wallets more than 490,000 ETH and 778 BTC, but later they managed to sell Ethereum to buy Bitcoin. In this way, the ETH then dropped to just over 13,700 (26 million dollars), while the BTC rose to over 13,500 (1.1 billion).

It is possible that these massive sales of ETH in such a short time have also negatively impacted the price of Ethereum.

Note that previously they had only managed to hold 1,300 BTC, in addition to the 778 BTC, so it is precisely thanks to that single theft that they managed to become one of the states with the most Bitcoin in the world. 

Lazarus Group

The Lazarus Group is a group of cybercriminals supported by the very same North Korean state.

One of the sensational early attacks was the 2014 one against Sony Pictures, through which they managed to steal sensitive data and destroy company files.

Subsequently, in 2016, they managed to steal 81 million dollars from the Bangladesh Bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the following year, with the WannaCry ransomware, they simultaneously hit thousands of computers worldwide, causing interruptions to various services and financial losses.

This is a sophisticated and well-funded group, created specifically with the aim of conducting large-scale cyber attacks, often against political or financial targets. The same attack on Bybit was decidedly very sophisticated. 

Furthermore, it is known for its ability to adapt and change tactics, making it difficult to defend against its attacks.

The future of Bitcoin held by North Korea

Now the question is: what will the North Korean state do with all those BTC?

Most likely, it will sell them to finance part of its activities, such as military ones.

In theory, even the potential sale of Bitcoin could have negative impacts on the price, although to be honest, last year when Germany sold about 50,000 in one go, the price of Bitcoin experienced only a small temporary drop from $60,000 to $55,000, then completely absorbed within just two weeks. 

Moreover, North Korea certainly cannot proceed with that sale on traditional centralized exchanges, given that its funds are tracked and would be blocked as soon as they are deposited on an exchange that complies with the laws. 

Therefore, the sale will be far lower than last year’s in Germany, most likely it will not happen soon, and it will not go through the main crypto exchanges.