Hacker groups linked to North Korea have stolen $721 million in cryptocurrency assets from Japan since 2017.
According to the Nikkei Business newspaper, the report was based on a study conducted by Elliptic, a blockchain analysis firm based in the United Kingdom.
It was gathered that the amount is equal to 30% of all such losses worldwide.
The report comes after the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors stated on Saturday that they support efforts to tackle growing dangers from illicit activity by state actors, such as crypto-asset theft.
North Korea stole $2.3 billion in Bitcoin from businesses between 2017 and 2022, according to Elliptic, which did the investigation on behalf of the Japanese publication.
Lazarus Group (also known as Guardians of Peace or Whois Team) is one of the known cybercrime organisation run by the North Korean government that consists of an unknown number of persons. While little is known about the Lazarus Group, experts have linked them to a number of cyberattacks between 2010 and 2021.
North Korean hackers have recently targeted large firms in Hong Kong, China, Japan, and Vietnam.