Crypto hacks: $12.8 billion stolen by North Korea since 2017, including $7.4 billion in 2026

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https://cryptoast.fr/crypto-12-milliards-dollars-voles-coree-nord-depuis-2017-dont-7-milliards-2026/

The hack of the Binance platform has already established itself as a historic event in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, both because of its status as the world leader in exchanges, but also because the amount stolen by hackers is unprecedented, with a total estimated at $6.36 billion.

A theft quickly attributed by cybersecurity specialists at TRMLabs to the hacker group TraderTraitor, known for its affiliation with North Korea. A very lucrative activity, since it would have allowed this country to collect the equivalent of $12.8 billion in cryptocurrencies during around a hundred incidents identified since 2017, or more than 45% of the total losses recorded over this period, estimated at $28 billion.

An amount of which $7.4 billion was stolen in 2026 alone by North Korea, while the total for this year - still provisional - is estimated at $8.7 billion.

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North Korea is one of the main perpetrators of these hacks. As of October 2026, it is responsible for 85% of the total value hacked this year, with the overwhelming majority coming from the Binance hack. Last year, it was responsible for 63% of stolen funds worldwide, and over the past five years, 60% of all stolen funds.

An activity whose largest share of profits comes from a "small number of infrastructure compromises", with a total of $9.1 billion involving the Binance, Bybit, Ronin, Bitget and DMM Bitcoin hacks alone.

According to TRMLabs specialists, the method most commonly used by hackers consists of exploiting a flaw in a smart contract. An activity which represents 49% of the incidents recorded since 2022, but which is only associated with 15% of the amounts stolen over this period.

North Korea does things differently. Only 13 of its 100 attributed incidents are smart contract exploitations, and they represent about 1% of what North Korea has stolen. Before Binance, about 76% of the value it stole came from infrastructure attacks, which target the keys, servers and signing systems behind the money. With Binance, this share now reaches 88%.

👉 This is how North Korea launders billions from crypto hacks

Machine-translated from French