Why North Korea keeps stealing billions in crypto — out in the open

As North Korea's infiltration tactics grow more sophisticated, security experts say the crypto industry needs to understand what sets the regime apart from every other state-backed hacker — and why that difference makes it a dangerous threat to the ecosystem. What to know : North Korea's crypto theft is a matter of economic survival in a way it simply isn't for Russia or Iran — both of which still have economies, trading partners, and goods to move. For Pyongyang, crypto isn't a payment rail. It's a replacement for a sanctioned-out economy. That existential motive is what makes North Korea uniquely dangerous to crypto specifically: it brings intelligence-agency patience and state resources to what is functionally organized financial crime, targeting the ecosystem itself rather than using it as a means to a geopolitical end.