North Korea's Crypto Theft Tops $1 Billion as Hackers Outpace Investigators
North Korea's crypto theft total for 2026 has surpassed $1 billion, according to Elliptic. The $387.5 million Bitget hack on September 24 is a prime example of the country's state-sponsored hacking groups' tactics. The attackers used a combination of traditional and privacy coins, moving the stolen funds across four different blockchains within three hours.
The speed at which the funds were moved has forced Chainalysis to build custom automation to track the trail in near real time. According to the firm, this automation compressed the time it takes to chase stolen funds from over 20 hours to under 10 minutes.
Chainalysis' attribution was independently confirmed by Elliptic, which tracked the incident as part of its running tally of suspected North Korean crypto theft in 2026. The $1 billion total for 2026 is a significant increase from the $2 billion tracked in 2025.
The Bitget hack is a prime example of North Korea's evolving tactics in the crypto space. The country's state-sponsored hackers have been refining their playbook over the years, using a combination of backend breaches and hot wallet compromises to move stolen funds across multiple chains.