G7 leaders issued a joint statement on rampant cryptocurrency thefts organized by North Korea’s hacker group, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Leaders meeting in Evian, France, renewed calls for cooperative efforts to combat North Korea’s aggression in the cryptocurrency space, citing international risks.
At their meeting in Evian-les-Bains on June 17, G7 leaders issued a new warning about Pyongyang’s digital thefts in their broader statement on geopolitical issues, placing cryptocurrency crime alongside Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the war in Ukraine as a top-tier security concern.
“…we reiterate the need to jointly address cryptocurrency thefts and cybercrime in North Korea,” the statement read in part. Notably, this is the first time that the G7 has classified North Korea’s cybercrimes in the same category as its nuclear weapons and missile programmes, which is a crucial security issue.
Earlier last year, in 2025 G7 Summit in KananaskWorld leaders also raised similar concerns about North Korea. The leaders also addressed other security concerns posed by North Korea, linking cryptocurrencies as a major source of funding for the regime’s weapons.
North Korea’s role in cryptocurrency thefts and cybercrime
G7 leaders pledged closer cooperation to confront abuse of digital financial networks. North Korea was selected as one of the countries that uses digital networks to evade sanctions and finance military ambitions using the same digital channels.
In 2026 alone, North Korea engaged in major cryptocurrency exploits, providing new evidence to support the concerns of G7 world leaders. This year, Drift Protocol, a Solana-based exchange, lost more than $250 million on April 1. Drift Protocol later revealed, posthumously, that the exploitation was only possible due to organizational support.
According to the Drift Protocol, the operation began in October 2025, when the attackers contacted them at a large industry conference for collaboration and immediately began planning the exploit after gaining access. Elliptic, a blockchain analytics company, later linked the malicious actors to North Korean operators.
Barely a week before the G7 meeting, another relatively small decentralization project was announced, Humanity Protocolbleeding more than $35 million. A phishing email disguised as a token lock update from the South Korean exchange Bithumb tricked an employee into installing malware that gave attackers full remote access to the company’s laptop, security firm Quantstamp said. Quantstamp later linked the activities to North Korea as well.
Can the G7 coordinate a campaign against North Korea?
North Korea has not commented on the cryptocurrency or cybercrime allegations yet. When a State Department spokesman faced similar accusations in May, he denied the allegations, saying Washington was spreading “incorrect” narratives about what it called a “nonexistent” cyber threat, according to state media coverage.
The G7 is likely to push for uniform attribution sharing among its intelligence services, faster freezing of wallets flagged across exchanges, and pressure on smaller jurisdictions that still host offshore platforms where stolen funds eventually rest.
United Nations Security Council separately Notarized North Korea’s playbook on sanctions evasion is detailed, giving the G7 a paper trail to build on rather than starting from scratch.
