A leading U.S. think tank says North Korean hackers are increasingly taking advantage of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms to launder cryptocurrencies, thanks in part to slow-to-adapt regulations on Washington’s end.

The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) report states that North Korea’s most infamous hacking group Lazarus has shown “remarkable adaptation to evolving regulations,” allowing it to stay ahead of government regulators as cryptocurrencies develop.

Whereas centralized finance involves familiar institutions such as banks, DeFi platforms are based on the same blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies and allow people to move crypto without a traditional intermediary.

In other words, practically