North Korean Hacker Fumbles $120,000 XRP Haul Over Crucial Mistake

A hacker from North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has fumbled a $120,000 XRP haul after failing to account for a specific factor when transacting on the XRP Ledger, leading to an unclaimed deposit for the funds on an exchange.

According to popular on-chain investigator ZachXBT, the North Korean actor failed to take into account that on the XRP Ledger, destination tags have to be included in transactions. As the hacker failed to include it, the exchange was unable to know who to credit the funds to.

DPRK's failed transaction. — DPRK’s failed transaction.

The failed transaction comes at a time in which North Korean hackers have maintained their aggressive targeting of the cryptocurrency industry, having last year stolen an unprecedented $1.34 billion over 47 separate incidents.

Thoe 47 incidents, according to a Chainalysis report, accounted for 61% of the $2.2 billion stolen from cryptocurrency platforms last year. The report details that DPRK cryptocurrency attacks are “becoming more frequent” as it gets “better and gaster at massive exploits.”

North Korean Hackers Consistently Responsible For Major Exploits

The report further details that the Democratic People’s Republic is seemingly consistently responsible for major exploits in the crypto space over the last three years amid an apparent rise in North Korean IT workers who infiltrate crypto and Web3 firms.

These IT works use false identities, third-party hiring intermediaries, and other tactics to manipulate remote working opportunities and gain access to companies’ systems. The report notes, however, that since late June 2024, when Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense pact, DPRK hackers’ activity has diminished, presumably as it directs resources toward the conflict in Ukraine.

North Korean hackers, it’s worth noting, have been responsible for several high-profile exploits in the cryptocurrency space, including the theft of $308 million from Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin, $235 million from India’s largest exchange WazirX, and other smaller exploits of Upbit, Rain Management, and Radian Capital.