The sophistication of North Korean government-backed hackers has increased significantly, now accounting for over 76% of crypto losses this year, totaling nearly $600 million. A notable example is the $285 million Drift Protocol exploit, which involved an unprecedented in-person social engineering attack spanning months of face-to-face meetings between North Korean operatives and Drift employees. As Ari Redbord, Global Head of Policy and Government Affairs at TRMLabs, noted, "North Korean proxies sitting across a table from protocol employees over a period of months... This is no longer just a remote keyboard operation." TRMLabs' recent report highlights the key role of North Korea's two primary hacking groups, DPRK and Lazarus, in 76% of all crypto losses due to hacks and exploits in 2026.
Redbord emphasized, "What we are watching is not a North Korean campaign that is broader — it is one that is sharper... North Korea is moving faster and more precisely than ever." The cumulative crypto theft attributed to North Korea now exceeds $6 billion since 2017. The findings coincide with the Wasabi Protocol exploit, which used a similar approach to the Drift hack on April 19, resulting in the theft of $4.5 million.
In contrast, the $292 million KelpDAO breach exploited a known single-verifier flaw. The hackers behind the Drift exploit converted the stolen funds to USDC, bridged to Ethereum, and swapped them into ETH, following the DPRK's typical patient, multi-year cashout pattern. In the KelpDAO exploit, Lazarus immediately laundered the proceeds through THORChain and Umbra, using Chinese intermediaries.
The Kelp DAO exploit led to DeFi's largest wipeouts, with $13 billion exiting several lending platforms, including Aave, which lost $8.54 billion in deposits over 48 hours, resulting in a nearly $200 million bad-debt crisis.