G7 leaders at the Évian summit pledged a coordinated campaign to halt North Korea’s rising cryptocurrency heists, elevating illicit cyber activity to a core security priority. Chainalysis data shows DPRK-linked hackers stole a record $2.02 billion in 2025, a 51% rise from 2024, with the February Bybit exploit alone netting about $1.5 billion. The G7’s plan emphasizes improved tracing, rapid cross-border asset freezes and deeper intelligence-sharing with private crypto-security firms.
G7 Pledges Coordinated Crackdown on North Korea’s Crypto Thefts Funding Its Nuclear Program
G-7 Vows Crackdown on North Korean Crypto Theft Funding Nuclear Arms
Group of Seven leaders have committed to a coordinated campaign to disrupt North Korea’s multi-billion-dollar cryptocurrency thefts, making illicit cyber activity a formal priority of their collective security agenda.
The announcement came in the Évian Leaders' Statement at the close of a three-day summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. By explicitly naming cryptocurrency thefts and state-backed cybercrime attributed to Pyongyang, the G7 elevated the issue compared with last year’s more general Kananaskis chair’s summary.
Surge in DPRK-Linked Heists
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reports that hackers tied to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea stole a record $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency during 2025 — a roughly 51% increase from the $1.34 billion reported in 2024. Security researchers have repeatedly linked many of these operations to DPRK-connected groups such as the Lazarus Group.
The uptick was driven in part by a single, catastrophic breach of the Bybit exchange in February 2025, which reportedly yielded an estimated $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and other virtual assets to state-backed hackers — the largest cryptocurrency hack documented to date.
Why the G7 Is Acting
G7 officials warned that proceeds from these digital heists are being used to bankroll North Korea’s expanding ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, while also enabling the regime to evade United Nations sanctions. The bloc said such illicit finance poses a direct threat to international security and financial integrity.
New Multinational Measures
The G7 outlined a rigorous framework to disrupt and deter these activities. Key actions include enhanced international transaction-tracing, faster cross-border freezes of illicit assets, improved intelligence-sharing between governments and private crypto-security firms, and coordinated efforts to shut down the systemic vulnerabilities used to launder stolen crypto into fiat currency.
The coalition — comprising the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada — pledged to deepen cooperation with blockchain analytics companies, exchanges, and law enforcement to accelerate takedowns, recover assets where possible, and impose consequences on facilitators of state-backed cyber theft.
Next steps: Officials said they will translate the new mandate into operational measures and tighter rules, aiming to make it significantly harder for state-backed actors to convert stolen digital assets into resources for prohibited weapons development.
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