North Korea Seeks Bitcoin Mining to Finance Regime

The Korea Times

29 August 2018

North Korea is highly likely deploying malicious software that enables its army of cyber hackers to “illicitly” mine and gain bitcoins without a trace, analysts claimed.

Given Pyongyang does not have the computer firepower, it is most likely targeting bitcoins as a means to finance the Kim Jong-un regime amid U.N. sanctions, they added.

Analysts say the international community remains helpless against the North’s increase in bitcoin mining because there is not a global legal framework yet that can address security issue concerning a nation misusing digital currencies.

“My reading of the situation is that North Korea is desperate for funds and hard currency. It will do anything to earn income and circumvent the international sanctions placed on it. Bitcoin mining is just the latest in a long string of illegal and legal fundraising attempts by the Kim regime,” said Nah Liang Tuang, a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

“However, I do not see what legal recourse the international community has to stop North Korea from this latest money generating venture since, to my knowledge, sanctions leveled against the North do not address cryptocurrencies.”

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Last updated on 30/08/2018