[ad_1]
Earlier this month, one of many world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, FTX, collapsed. Whereas the sudden implosion of FTX despatched shockwaves via the cryptocurrency trade, its demise additionally has implications for North Korea’s skill to proceed to use weaknesses within the digital asset ecosystem. As a result of Kim Jong Un regime’s self-imposed isolation through the pandemic, North Korea has struggled to accumulate the arduous foreign money wanted to fund its weapons packages and commerce deficit. In pursuing a zero COVID technique, North Korean exports shriveled to solely tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} throughout 2020 and 2021, whereas the regime’s skill to have interaction in smuggling to evade U.N. sanctions was additionally hindered. To compensate for its losses of arduous foreign money, the regime has more and more turned to the theft of cryptocurrency to fill its coffers. In line with Chainalysis, a blockchain evaluation agency, North Korea stole round $300 million in digital property in 2020 and almost $400 million in 2021. Thus far this yr, Chainalysis estimates that North Korea has stolen roughly $1 billion in cryptocurrency.
Full evaluation : The Implications of FTX’s Collapse for North Korea.
[ad_2]
Source link
