G7 targets North Korea's crypto thefts as losses top $6.75B

G7 leaders used their joint statement at the Evian summit to explicitly call out North Korea's cryptocurrency theft operations. “We reiterate the need to jointly address North Korea’s cryptocurrency thefts and cybercrimes,” the leaders stated on June 17, 2026.

North Korean hackers stole $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency during 2025 alone. That figure represents a 51% jump from the prior year. Cumulative losses tied to DPRK-linked cyber operations have exceeded $6.75 billion since 2017.

The largest single theft was the $1.5 billion breach of the Bybit exchange in February 2025. The FBI attributed that attack to a North Korean outfit called “TraderTraitor.” The bureau noted that stolen assets are rapidly converted into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Through April 2026, two attacks attributed to North Korea–targeting Drift Protocol and KelpDAO–resulted in $577 million in losses. That single figure accounts for 76% of all reported crypto hacking losses so far this year.

The G7 stopped short of naming specific sanctions targets or outlining enforcement protocols against particular entities. What they did signal is a commitment to two broad priorities: enhanced policy coordination among member nations and disruption of the laundering networks that help North Korea convert stolen crypto into usable funds.

The G7 statement explicitly connects DPRK cyber operations to the country's nuclear and missile programs. This isn't garden-variety cybercrime. It's state-sponsored theft designed to finance weapons development, which reframes the entire conversation from a crypto security issue to a global security issue.