Korea Surpasses Bhutan and El Salvador to Become the World's 5th-Largest Bitcoin Holder After Lazarus Bybit Hack
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has become the world’s fifth-largest sovereign Bitcoin holder after Lazarus, a cyber terror group known to be working for the North, stole over $1.4 billion from Bybit.
According to data from blockchain analytics firm Arkham, Lazarus controls 13,518 BTC, which is currently valued at about $1.1 billion.
According to data from blockchain analytics firm Arkham, Lazarus controls 13,518 BTC, which is currently valued at about $1.1 billion.
This compares to 10,635 BTC held by Bhutan, which has one of the largest Bitcoin treasuries among countries due to large-scale mining activities. El Salvador, the first country to adopt BTC as legal tender, holds 6,118 BTC, according to Bitcoin Visuals.
The U.S. holds the largest sovereign Bitcoin portfolio, with 198,109 BTC seized from Silk Road and other operations. China is second with an estimated 194,000 BTC mined by state-controlled miners. The U.K. holds about 61,000 BTC, which it acquired through confiscations, and Ukraine’s crypto treasury is estimated to hold 46,351 BTC, according to government officials.
The State Department-sanctioned DPRK-tied organization is known to have perpetrated some of the largest crypto hacks in history, including the Japanese exchange DMM Bitcoin exploit in 2024 and Ronin Network in 2022, from which Lazarus stole over 300 BTC and 600,000 ETH, respectively.
Earlier this year, Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit reported that over 400,000 ETH had been stolen from its Safe multi-sig cold wallet. Lazarus tapped decentralized finance protocols like THORChain, which in-house developers and the crypto community have criticized for lax anti-criminal measures, to swap a significant portion of the ETH to BTC.
The U.S. has accused Lazarus of stealing an estimated $1.7 billion in crypto to fund almost 50% of North Korea’s nuclear missile program, according to CNN, citing a White House official.
