Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba plans to call for a unified global response at the upcoming G7 summit in Canada (June 15-17) to tackle North Korea’s increasing involvement in cryptocurrency theft. North Korea has been linked to significant crypto heists totaling an estimated $1.34 billion in 2024, accounting for over 60% of global crypto hack losses that year.
The regime utilizes stolen digital assets to fund its nuclear and missile programs, with hacker groups such as Lazarus and TraderTraitor allegedly orchestrating some of the largest breaches, including the 2022 Ronin Bridge hack ($600 million) and the 2025 Bybit exchange hack ($1.4 billion), the largest crypto theft to date.
Japan was directly impacted when the Tokyo-based exchange DMM Bitcoin lost more than 4,500 BTC (valued at over $300 million) in a hack linked to North Korean agents. This attack forced DMM Bitcoin to shut down and raised serious concerns about vulnerabilities in Japan's digital asset infrastructure.
Japan aims to propose a task force within the G7 to enhance cybersecurity cooperation, establish common security standards for crypto exchanges, improve information sharing among member countries, and enforce stronger KYC and AML regulations to monitor and control illicit crypto transactions linked to nation-state cybercrime.
This initiative would mark the first formal G7 joint effort targeting crypto-related threats originating from state-sponsored actors. Global authorities including the US and South Korea have intensified efforts to counter North Korea’s cyber operations, including legal actions and technical collaborations.
The focus on combating cryptocurrency-enabled illegal activities is critical due to the dual threat posed by North Korea's use of crypto funds to undermine global financial systems and advance weapons proliferation. Japan’s leadership underscores the urgency to close digital loopholes that enable state-backed destabilizing operations.