A massive amount of crypto
was robbed this year, and most of it went to North Korea.
The nation accounted for roughly 59% of the more than $3.4 billion in stolen crypto, according to a
Chainalysis report released yesterday.
“North Korea’s sophistication and efficacy in laundering the proceeds from these incidents is continuing to improve,” said Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis. “The industry needs to continue ensuring that they have better security controls.”
The report comes at a time when investing in crypto has become mainstream. More people own crypto, and because crypto transactions are irreversible, individuals and exchanges are increasingly becoming targets.
This year, North Korea broke its own record of yearly money stolen in crypto, and it did so in creative ways.
The country had its own citizens work as IT employees at crypto companies, where they used AI to pretend they were working from another country, like the U.S. These employees then gained access to privileged information and caused large-scale breaches.
North Koreans also used a method called social engineering, where they sent emails and text messages to people with crypto. If those individuals clicked on the wrong link, the hacker could access their private wallets.
The biggest crypto hack in history occurred in February, when Bybit, one of the largest crypto exchanges, lost $1.4 billion. The FBI quickly declared North Korea responsible for the theft. That attack accounted for roughly 40% of the total amount of crypto heists this year.
Chainalysis found that large-scale attacks dominated in 2025, as more than two-thirds of stolen funds came from just three hacks.
—Carlos Garcia 
