Seeing the news today that North Korean hackers stole over $2 billion through cryptocurrency hacking in just one year in 2025 is truly unbelievable.

Bitcoin and blockchain started as a way to create a safe financial system that the government couldn't tamper with, as we couldn't trust central banks. It was all wrapped in grand phrases like preventing middlemen from taking a cut, keeping transparent records, and giving individuals sovereignty, but looking at the current situation, it just makes me laugh.

International news reports say they stole over $2 billion in just one year in 2025, breaking last year's record again.

At this point, it's not just individual hackers but a state-run industry. Cumulatively, it amounts to nearly $7 billion, which is a budget for a small to medium-sized country. But thinking that all this money was taken by hacking digital wallets is truly disheartening.

Earlier this year, there was an incident where nearly $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum vanished in one go from a major exchange based in Dubai. Even movies about bank vaults don't depict it like this. This is more of a cyber war than financial crime.

What's even more frustrating is that this isn't a spontaneous crime. North Korean hackers disguise themselves as remote developers for foreign companies to gain access to internal systems, and with the permissions they obtain, they steal wallet keys while an organization waiting in the background sweeps everything up.

It sounds like something out of a movie, but it's reality. Yet, the industry still keeps repeating words like decentralization, freedom, and innovation.

Why is North Korea so obsessed with cryptocurrency? The reason is simple. It's easy to use instead of cash blocked by sanctions, and there's no way to reverse the theft. If it's bank money, at least accounts can be frozen, but with cryptocurrency, once it's sent, it's over. Even if an exchange has hundreds of security team members, the moment the wallet keys are stolen, it's game over. Is this really a normal financial system?

We started criticizing central financial systems with Bitcoin and blockchain, but in the end, it has become a structure optimized for criminals and rogue states.

Other countries' hackers also commit crimes, but there are hardly any countries that face allegations of systematically stealing cryptocurrency for military funding with direct government involvement. They've already faced all the sanctions they could, and with nothing left to lose, there's no reason to stop.

This is why experts say there are no sharp solutions. Ultimately, the absurd reality of cryptocurrency is this: the advantages of being fast and free are equally open to criminals. Technology is neutral, right? Fine. But if you look at who is making the best use of this technology, the answer is already clear.

In this cutting-edge era, people flock to money that seems like a mirage, and that money disappears with one hack. Is this really the future of finance we dreamed of?

Honestly, it seems like a question worth considering whether world leaders are just standing by like the pirates of the past.