North Korean hackers stole $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency :

This nearly quadruples the country's previous high for bitcoin theft, which was $429 million in 2021.

The plunder also made up 44% of the $3.8bn stolen in crypto thefts last year, which the business called "the biggest year ever for crypto hacking".

According to experts, Korea is turning to digital theft to finance its nuclear weapons in the face of harsh sanctions.

North Korea has carried out multiple nuclear tests, with a 7 expected this year as the country's nuclear weapons development intensifies under leader Jong. Pyongyang launched a huge number of nuclear and other rockets last year.

"For reference, North Korea's overall exports in 2020 totaled $142 million in products, so it isn't a stretch to argue that cryptocurrency hacking is a major piece of the nation's economy," Chainalysis reported on Wednesday.

According to the business, these hackers frequently launder cryptocurrency through "mixers," which mingle cryptocurrencies from numerous users to obscure the source of the payments.

Last month, the FBI acknowledged that the North Korean-affiliated Lazarus Group was involved for a $100 million crypto crime on the Horizon bridge blockchain network last year.

According to Chainalysis' study, decentralized finance protocols, or DeFi, accounted for more than 82% of cryptocurrency stolen in 2022.

Mr Schwed believes that DeFi developers may learn from traditional financial institutions in terms of making their platforms more secure.

They can, for example, simulate various hacking scenarios to test their protocols or create systems to delay or stop transactions when suspicious activity is identified.