The U.S. and South Korea hosted a meeting with crypto industry professionals on Tuesday aimed at curbing North Korea’s efforts to steal and launder cryptocurrency to raise illicit funds for weapons development.

The U.S. State Department said in a press release on Wednesday that government officials and representatives from the cryptocurrency, blockchain, decentralized finance, venture capital and other sectors participated in the joint symposium in New York.

Citing the now-dissolved U.N. Panel of Experts that used to monitor DPRK sanctions implementation, the department highlighted North Korean cybercriminals’ theft of cryptocurrency worth some $3 billion between 2017 and 2023.

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