How do you fund a weapons program when the world’s watching your every move?
If you’re North Korea, the answer seems to be: go digital.
A new report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) reveals Pyongyang has turned cryptocurrency into a lifeline.
It has also turned covert IT work into one. These have become crucial for its sanctioned economy.
Between January and September 2025 alone, the regime’s hackers allegedly stole a staggering $1.65 billion.
Most of it came from crypto exchange Bybit.
Investigators say that money is funneled straight into the country’s nuclear and missile programs.
Stablecoins, they found, are being used to buy everything from copper for munitions to military hardware.
And it doesn’t stop there. Thousands of North Korean IT workers have quietly taken up jobs in countries like China, Russia, and even parts of Africa.
Sanctions Evasion Network
They launder money while posing as legitimate freelancers.
“It’s one of the most sophisticated sanction-evasion networks in the world,” said a Western diplomat familiar with the report.
In one bizarre twist, North Korean animators were reportedly subcontracted for Western entertainment projects.
This included work tied to Amazon and HBO Max—without the companies realizing it.
For Pyongyang, cybercrime isn’t just a hustle; it’s survival.
In the digital age, even sanctions can’t keep Kim Jong Un out of business.
