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North Korea making billions from stolen cryptocurrency

abc.net.au

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Re: North Korea making billions from stolen cryptocurrency

#41

Post by gambiting »

phoe-krk wrote: post #21
gambiting wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Normally if you stole euros you wouldn't need to first sell them for dollars to get value out of them. Cryptocurrencies are not currencies, not any more than rare postage stamps are.

> Normally if you stole euros you wouldn't need to first sell them for dollars to get value out of them. I can't pay with dollars in most of the shops in Poland. According to your logic, a dollar isn't a currency, not any more than rare postage stamps are. Or, in other words - why and how do currency exchanges exist, then? They literally sell and buy different kinds of money.

You can buy things with euros outside of Poland though, just because Poland doesn't use Euro as a currency doesn't mean it isn't one. Most cryptocurrencies aren't currencies in the sense that no one accepts them for anything other than regular currencies or other crypto. There are rare exceptions to this, but that's exactly what they are - exceptions.

>why and how do currency exchanges exist, then

I hope this isn't a real question.

Re: North Korea making billions from stolen cryptocurrency

#42

Post by gambiting »

lrvick wrote: post #18
gambiting wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Normally if you stole euros you wouldn't need to first sell them for dollars to get value out of them. Cryptocurrencies are not currencies, not any more than rare postage stamps are.

I buy things and send money with cryptocurrency often, and some of my clients pay me with it. Faster than bank transfers, and lower fees.

How is it being one of like 12 people globally who actually do this?

Re: North Korea making billions from stolen cryptocurrency

#43

Post by butterknife »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #36

NK is a country where there are still people eating roots and where they couldn't even photoshop properly a hoovercraft in a picture. WTF. Just seriously WTF. We're literally talking about a country where computer-savvy people cannot even photoshop a picture. I don't buy it that this country has the world's top hackers (no matter how often that it repeated by mainstream media) and I don't buy it that NK is thriving t…

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwasong-14

Re: North Korea making billions from stolen cryptocurrency

#44

Post by capableweb »

wodenokoto wrote: post #25

Since the ledgers are public, how difficult is it to black list individual bitcoins? E.g, have the feds do a public list of blacklisted coin ids and simply say that accepting these coins is against whatever compliance is necessary for a business to operate crypto in the USA and Europe. Then when some realestate agency is about to sell an apartment in Dubai for bitcoins they’re gonna be “no, not those. We can add them…

Bitcoins aren't individual. You just have addresses with an associated sum, once two different addresses send 1 Bitcoin each to that address, those are equal and if you send 1 Bitcoin from the address who just received it, it's not one of Bitcoins that was received that got sent, it's just two values being updated at the same time (sender's amount decremented, receivers amount incremented).

What you can do, is blacklist specific addresses, and deny receiving/sending to anything that been "in contact" with that address. But you will for sure end up blocking more than you want with this approach, although that might not be a huge issue for the ones who are trying to block things.

Re: North Korea making billions from stolen cryptocurrency

#45

Post by capableweb »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #36

NK is a country where there are still people eating roots and where they couldn't even photoshop properly a hoovercraft in a picture. WTF. Just seriously WTF. We're literally talking about a country where computer-savvy people cannot even photoshop a picture. I don't buy it that this country has the world's top hackers (no matter how often that it repeated by mainstream media) and I don't buy it that NK is thriving t…

If had a bunch of badass hackers in my dictator-run country, and I want to try to exploit that fact for as long as possible, I'd probably make sure to give the impression that my country is so backwards we cannot even edit images correctly, so people give me the benefit of doubt.

Re: North Korea making billions from stolen cryptocurrency

#46

Post by lrvick »

schleck8 wrote: post #24
lrvick wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To you maybe. I regularly buy things with it.

Can you disclose three of the types or products you buy with it without going to jail though?

Assuming most people that use cryptoassets are criminals is not very nice. The media loves to talk about criminals using it, as though criminals do not use every other asset class as well.

I buy all sorts of things. To name a few....

Cloud servers, VPN subscriptions, hardware security modules, random number generators, mechanical puzzles, anonymous donations to charities, payments to/ from friends for splitting checks at dinner, coffee from Backyard Coffee in Palo Alto, beer from a bar in Germany, a usb battery at a electronics store in Japan.

Friend of mine even uses it to buy sex toys online with reasonably good privacy.

Everything I have ever purchased with cryptoassets is legal and the same is true as far as I know of all the many friends I have that make regular use of them as well.

Some of us actually believe in centralized finance without central government control, and others just like to buy things or move value around without fees or having their purchase history sold.

Re: North Korea making billions from stolen cryptocurrency

#47

Post by thiagoharry »

GartzenDeHaes wrote: post #20

No evidence is presented that North Korea was involved.

Most sources with news or accusations against North Korea do not have much evidence. For most countries, if hackers steal something, you do not assume as first hypothesis that their government was responsible. Just the usual psy ops and propaganda against a target identified as enemy. Of course, perhaps it is truth and they indeed use military funding to scam people and evade sanctions (which should not exist anyway in my opinion). If so, no conclusive evidence would exist anyway, this operation would have a plausible deniability that it was just talented individuals commiting crimes, not state operatives.

Re: North Korea making billions from stolen cryptocurrency

#48

Post by makeitshine »

capableweb wrote: post #45
TacticalCoder wrote: post #36

NK is a country where there are still people eating roots and where they couldn't even photoshop properly a hoovercraft in a picture. WTF. Just seriously WTF. We're literally talking about a country where computer-savvy people cannot even photoshop a picture. I don't buy it that this country has the world's top hackers (no matter how often that it repeated by mainstream media) and I don't buy it that NK is thriving t…

If had a bunch of badass hackers in my dictator-run country, and I want to try to exploit that fact for as long as possible, I'd probably make sure to give the impression that my country is so backwards we cannot even edit images correctly, so people give me the benefit of doubt.

That's pretty opposite of what most dictatorships do, though, right? Usually they want to seem to be more than they are. If it's originating from N. Korea it could be Chinese organized crime working through the country or it could be someone else entirely. It could be the CIA recouping loses from pot sales after legalization.

Re: North Korea making billions from stolen cryptocurrency

#49

Post by stephenr »

romwell wrote: post #12
macleginn wrote: post #9

Tangentially, if you have to make money "from" stolen currency, it must be a strange kind of currency.

Crypto is a form of asset, not currency. We just use the wrong word for it.

I dunno. Is "asset" really the right word for "your own little step on the pyramid scheme"

Re: North Korea making billions from stolen cryptocurrency

#50

Post by Larrikin »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #36

NK is a country where there are still people eating roots and where they couldn't even photoshop properly a hoovercraft in a picture. WTF. Just seriously WTF. We're literally talking about a country where computer-savvy people cannot even photoshop a picture. I don't buy it that this country has the world's top hackers (no matter how often that it repeated by mainstream media) and I don't buy it that NK is thriving t…

North Korea is a country that regularly test ICBM and nuclear bombs. But because of a crappy Photoshop those media reports are also fake? How many of the best hackers are also great at using Photoshop? Maybe kids in North Korea don't get to just dick around on the computer growing up and have their skills directed.
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