A Korean organization announced yesterday that researchers discovered that North Korea tried to mine cryptocurrency last year. A research unit of South Korea’s state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) disclosed their report publicly with these findings. The research unit said North Korea launched an effort to mine bitcoin between May and July last year, especially as a means to work around international sanctions, including banking and finance sanctions. The report also stated that the country takes a particular interest in coins and tokens that keep users anonymous. This is because these coins provide the best untraceable means to hide money laundering from other countries. The rogue nation has a long history with cryptocurrency. As CCN reported, the first transaction in the country goes as far back as 2014. However, the country maintains strict secrecy around their government operation and their activity with digital currency could go much further back. This latest report confirms that North Korea is still very active when it comes to using cryptocurrency as an alternate means of funding. Since most countries have sanctions on the North Korea because of its nuclear missile program, the authoritarian government does not have many resources to raise money. However, it seems that the country gave up its mining efforts after a short time, according to the report. Interestingly, the report found that actual North Korean do not know anything about cryptocurrency. The recent defectors said that they had not heard of cryptocurrency. North Korea is best known for large, sophisticated hacks of cryptocurrency exchanges. As CCN reported, a report out of South Korea claimed that North Korea had stolen tens of millions of dollars worth of coins from cryptocurrency exchanges. North Korea is also the prime suspect for the Youbit Exchange hack in December last year. As of late, the country has not satisfied Trump’s campaign pressure to denuclearize. A meeting between the two countries was recently called off because of renewed tensions. So for the foreseeable future, the sanctions don’t seem to be going anywhere, and North Korea will continue its activity for gathering cryptocurrency. Featured image from Shutterstock. Last modified: August 29, 2018 09:58 UTC
International sanctions on North Korea are continuing to fuel the state’s push to mine cryptocurrency, despite launching only a reportedly brief foray into the area last year. The country's attempt in 2017 lasted only between May and July, according to research conducted by South Korea's government-run Korea Development Bank (KDB).With continued international disapproval over its nuclear missile programme impacting finances, the report concluded North Korea remains keen to harness bitcoin for funding due to the appeal of its anonymity. However, the exact extent of the nation’s cryptocurrency operations are still unclear.