The United States government is trying to seize 280 cryptocurrency accounts related to theft cases involving hackers linked to North Korea, according to a U.S. Department of Justice release published on Aug. 27.

The Justice Department alleges that North Korean hackers stole cryptocurrencies worth at least $298.5 million from South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges in 2018 and 2019, as well as an exchange “focused on the Algorand blockchain” based in the United States.

The Wall Street Journal reportedthat this is the first time a U.S.-based exchange is known to be hacked by North Korea. And though cryptocurrencies in theory