A confidential report from a United Nations sanctions monitor revealed that North Korea conducted money laundering in March this year through the cryptocurrency mixer platform Tornado Cash after stealing $147.5 million from a cryptocurrency exchange last year.
According to a Reuters report on Tuesday (14th), a report submitted last Friday to the United Nations Security Council sanctions committee by the monitor showed that they investigated 97 suspected North Korean cyberattacks on cryptocurrency companies between 2017 and 2024, totaling approximately $3.6 billion.
This includes a cyberattack at the end of last year when North Korean hackers stole $147.5 million from the HTX cryptocurrency exchange and laundered the money in March this year. This information was tracked by cryptocurrency analysis company PeckShield and blockchain research company Elliptic.
Moreover, in just 2024, the monitor identified 11 cases of cryptocurrency theft totaling $54.7 million. Many of these thefts were believed to have been carried out by North Korean IT workers inadvertently hired by small cryptocurrency companies. The United Nations believes that the cryptocurrency stolen by North Korean hackers has been a major source of funding for the country’s nuclear and missile development. IT workers employed abroad have generated “significant income” for the country.
So-called cryptocurrency mixer platforms like Tornado Cash mix the cryptocurrencies of many users together to help conceal the source and ownership of funds. These platforms facilitate illegal money laundering activities, including those of North Korean cybercrime groups.
In August 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on Tornado Cash, prohibiting U.S. citizens from using the service. The platform was accused of “washing” over $7 billion of cryptocurrency since 2019, including $455 million stolen by the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group.
UN sanctions on North Korea have been in effect since July 2006 when North Korea conducted a series of missile tests. The Security Council prohibited countries from selling materials for manufacturing missiles or weapons of mass destruction to North Korea. In recent years, the United Nations has intensified sanctions on North Korea to cut off funding sources for its ballistic missile and nuclear projects.
In March this year, due to Russia’s veto of the resolution to extend the mandate of the expert group of the Security Council committee on North Korean sanctions, the sanctions monitor expert group responsible for investigating North Korea’s violations of sanctions concluded and disbanded on April 30. Some monitors submitted unfinished work reports and reported relevant circumstances to the Security Council sanctions committee last Friday.