North Korea’s Crypto Heist Laundering: Shadow Bankers and Sanctions Evasion

An in-depth look at how stolen cryptocurrency is laundered through shadow bankers to evade sanctions and fund illicit arms procurement for the regime.

Rich by Coin

2025-12-25

The challenge is to cash out illicit proceeds without exposing links to the North, thereby evading U.S. sanctions. Bankers like him appear to orchestrate the process. He described a money-laundering method in which cryptocurrency is exchanged for cash through brokers and then moved into shell company accounts before withdrawal. North Korea’s IT workers hijack cryptocurrency through hacking and send it to him, with wallets traversing multiple addresses to hinder tracking.

To cash out, he hands the cryptocurrency to brokers in the UAE or China who convert it to dollars and wire the proceeds to his shell accounts. According to data from a blockchain analytics firm, individuals like him launder billions of dollars’ worth of stolen cryptocurrency for North Korea over several years.