G7 leaders called for joint action on North Korea crypto thefts as Pyongyang-linked hackers keep targeting the industry.
The crypto line in the G7’s latest security statement was short, but it landed after another stretch of high-value hacks tied to Pyongyang.
In a June 17 statement from the 2026 G7 Summit in Évian, France, leaders linked North Korea‘s cyber activity to broader security concerns around its nuclear and ballistic missile programs:
“We reiterate the need to jointly address North Korea’s cryptocurrency thefts and cybercrimes.”
While there were no additional crypto-related sanctions mentioned in the statement, mentioning cryptocurrency thefts under the same Indo-Pacific section where North Korea’s weapons, UN resolutions, and abductions were covered, seemed significant.
Read also: Ripple Begins Sharing North Korean Hacker Intelligence With Crypto Industry
Fewer Attacks, Larger Hauls
The warning comes against the backdrop of continued cyberattacks by hackers associated with North Korea who steal large sums from crypto companies using fewer attacks than usual.
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis noted in a blog post that North Korean hackers stole at least $2 billion in crypto in 2025, a record year by value, pushing its lower-bound cumulative estimate to $6.75 billion.
And this year’s data also points to the same pattern as TRM Labs, another blockchain intelligence firm, said North Korea-linked hackers stole about $577 million through April 2026, accounting for 76% of all crypto hack losses tracked over that period.
But that total came mostly from two attacks. TRM Labs attributed a $285 million Drift Protocol breach on April 1 and a $292 million KelpDAO exploit on April 18.
Freezes Trail Laundering Speed
The enforcement record shows that G7 coordination is still pretty hard. For instance, in 2025, the FBI attributed the roughly $1.5 billion Bybit hack to North Korean actors it calls TraderTraitor.
While the agency urged exchanges, bridges, DeFi services and node operators to block addresses tied to the stolen funds, a later multilateral sanctions monitoring report said that, as of September 2025, all stolen funds from the Bybit heist had likely been cashed out.
Read more: North Korea Calls Crypto Theft Accusations “Absurd Slander” and a US Political Tool
