A hacker group affiliated with North Korea has stolen $721 million U.S. worth of cryptocurrency from Japan since 2017, according to a report in the Nikkei business newspaper.
The Nikkei paper says that a study undertaken by U.K. blockchain analysis provider Elliptic uncovered the multi-year cryptocurrency theft from Japan.
The amount of crypto stolen is equivalent to 30% of the total amount of cryptocurrencies that have been ripped off worldwide over the last six years, according to the Elliptic study.
News of the theft out of Japan comes as the Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers issued a statement on May 13 saying they support measures to counter the rising incidence of crypto thefts and threats from state actors in nations such as North Korea and Russia.
According to Elliptic, which conducted the analysis on behalf of the Japanese newspaper, North Korea stole a total of $2.3 billion U.S. in cryptocurrencies between 2017 and 2022, mostly from crypto exchanges and lenders.
North Korea has been accused of being among the world’s worst offenders when it comes to hacking and stealing digital assets.
