Japan leads the world in cryptocurrency losses

 

Japan leads the world in cryptocurrency losses

According to a Nikkei-commissioned Elliptic analysis, more than 60% of the losses incurred by North Korean hackers and ransomware users are attributable to Asian nations. 

lax security played a role.

According to a report by blockchain analytics company Elliptic, Japan is the country that has lost the most money to North Korean hackers' cryptocurrency.

Elliptic found that Asian countries constitute three of

the four main targets of the so-called Hermit Kingdom pirates.

The study :

• commissioned and published by Japan's financial publication Nikkei

• looked at cryptocurrency losses from cyberattacks that

• originated in North Korea from 2017 to 2022.

The study took into account both piracy attacks and ransomware attacks. The attacks were called a "national strategy".

Japan suffered $721 million in losses in those attacks

It accounted for 30% of the global total of more than $2.3 billion, according to Elliptic, based on an estimate of $640 million in cryptocurrencies lost in 2022.

According to the United Nations

The theft of cryptocurrencies in North Korea reached a new high in 2022. Nikki said:

The $721 million that was stolen from Japan, according to the Japan Foreign Trade Organisation, is 8.8 times higher than the country's exports will be worth in 2021.

Vietnam ranked second among the countries most under attack

losing $540 million during that time, according to the report.

1. The United States was third with losses of
2. $497 million, with Hong Kong fourth
3. with losses of $281 million.

Elliptic cited security lax Japanese

and Vietnamese cryptocurrency markets as a rationale for targeting hackers.

Nikki :

cites an unnamed source who said at least

three Japanese crypto exchanges were hacked between 2018 and 2021.

Lazarus Group in North Korea was behind some of the biggest thefts in cryptocurrencies, such as the exploitation of the Ronin Bridge and the Harmony Bridge breakthrough.

Additionally, North Koreans were allegedly taking immutable symbols and using decentralised financial platforms and cryptocurrency mixers to launder their stolen money.