North Korean hackers stole a record $1.7B of crypto last year • Hacker News Board

Re: North Korean hackers stole a record $1.7B of crypto last year

#201

Post by eaenki » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 3:12 AM UTC

csomar wrote: post #170

chollida1 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Funny thing is, you can barely launder any tangible amount of money with Bitcoin let alone crypto. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/10/crypto-criminals-laundered-5... Is $540M considered a tangible amount? I'll let you quibble over that but I'd think most criminals would be more than happy to be able to launder $540M.

That's mixing or "anonymizing" your crpyto proceeds. To make use of this crypto, you need to convert it to the relevant currency of the country you are in. If you are based in the USA, your only option is the few regulated exchanges which will ask "lots" of questions for this amount of money. It doesn't stop there, you'll have to answer lots of questions for the banks too as you'll withdraw this money eventually. If…

just buy homes from individuals. or rent luxury homes and and sub rent them. there are many individuals who will turn a blind eye on their real estate for a 30% premium.

Re: North Korean hackers stole a record $1.7B of crypto last year

#202

Post by FabHK » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 6:23 AM UTC

bsamuels wrote: post #75

axlee wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If 99% of BTC mixers' volume is helping laundering international drug trade money, arms or human trafficking, it's not exactly hard to demonize mixing itself. I have no data to base this on, but I assume that privacy absolutists are a tiny, tiny drop in the pool of blood and crime.

do you feel the same way about Tor? If 99% of Tor's volume is helping laundering international drug trade money, distributing CSAM, etc, should it be demonized as well?

There's a difference between sending around uncensored information, and sending around uncensored money.

Re: North Korean hackers stole a record $1.7B of crypto last year

#203

Post by throwaway290 » Wed, Mar 08, 2023, 10:20 AM UTC

ETH_start wrote: post #200

throwaway290 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is irrelevant. Anything putin gang does is legal in Russia obviously but being able to clean blood money is vital for them. That's the point of sanctions and why any way around it like crypto is a godsend to dictators.

You're missing my point. Your example doesn't contradict it. My point is that the most powerful countries don't need to clean their dirty money to spend their money abroad, because they are the center of the world economy, and everything is available to them to buy. Russia is economically on the periphery and thus does need to clean it.

Making it looks like "powerful country can do shady stuff and poor country needs to clean money" is not how reality works. Try being a violent dictator and do crime at a scale acceptable in Russia but in the US and then tell me how it goes.