On-chain analyst Darkfost estimates that the North Korean Lazarus Group has stolen approximately $11.87 billion in cryptocurrency. This amount is equivalent to 45% of the country's projected 2025 GDP and 35% of its Gross National Income, according to data from the Bank of Korea.
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs provides a higher estimate, placing the total stolen funds at around $12.8 billion across nearly 100 incidents since 2017. The firm reports that in 2026 alone, North Korean actors stole $7.4 billion, which accounts for 85% of the total value lost in global crypto hacks that year.
A significant portion of the 2026 total is attributed to an attack on Binance occurring on October 29 and 30. Approximately $6.36 billion was extracted from compromised wallets across ten blockchains within a 20-minute window. This operation is linked to TraderTraitor, a state-sponsored unit associated with the Lazarus Group.
Previous estimates from Chainalysis indicated that cumulative crypto theft by North Korean entities had exceeded $6.75 billion by the end of 2025. The recent surge in stolen assets is largely driven by the scale of individual operations, which now reach into the billions, marking a shift from earlier, smaller-scale campaigns.
