The US Intensifies Fight Against Cyber-hacking: Plans to seize hundreds of North Korean crypto accounts

• North Korea hackers are now using Chinese traders to launder funds stolen from cryptocurrency exchanges.
• Two Chinese citizens were charged with laundering $100 million for North Korean hackers in March 2020.

According to a report by Reuters, The United States government is planning to take down cryptocurrency accounts that have been recently connected to hackers from North Korea. The said hackers made a way with millions of dollars from a couple of cryptocurrency exchanges. The stolen funds were later laundered with the help of Chinese traders.

Apparently, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) filed a civil forfeiture complaint just after it charged a couple of Chinese citizens with laundering of over $100 million in crypto for the North Korean hackers. The DoJ discovered what it calls Pyongyang’s utilization of hackers to go around sanctions. According to the Acting Assistant Attorney General, Brian Rabbit:

Today’s action publicly exposes the ongoing connections between North Korea’s cyber-hacking program and a Chinese cryptocurrency money laundering network.”

Since 2006, the United Nations has kept sanctions on North Koreas intact in a way to kill the funding that is used in the development of Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Reports have indicated that North Korea has collected close to $2 billion that is channeled for the production of weapons of mass destruction. The cyberattacks from the country are continuously becoming “sophisticated,” making away with funds from crypto exchanges and banks.

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