North Korea’s cyber army funds nuclear arms with $2.8B in stolen crypto: MSMT | NK News
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October 05, 2026Oct 05, 2026

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North Korea’s cyber army funds nuclear arms with $2.8B in stolen crypto: MSMT

11 countries accuse DPRK cyber ops of ‘systematically’ violating sanctions, stating program rivals China and Russia

North Korea is “systematically” violating international sanctions by stealing cryptocurrency and using the proceeds to purchase weapons, according to sanctions monitors from 11 countries, finding that Pyongyang’s “full-spectrum” cyber program rivals those of China and Russia.

The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), envisioned as a replacement for the disbanded U.N. Panel of Experts, released its second report on Wednesday documenting the DPRK’s efforts to raise revenue for its nuclear and missile programs through illicit cyber operations and IT worker deployments.

The report states that North Korea stole a total of $2.84 billion in virtual assets from between Jan. 2024 to