Hackers stole billions in crypto to keep North Korea’s regime afloat

Perceived Failure of Crypto’s Promises

• Many comments argue that crypto has largely failed to deliver its early promises: no transformative financial disruption, no mainstream “killer app,” and little visible benefit for journalists or dissidents.
• Instead, it’s framed as primarily a speculation vehicle and wealth-extraction tool for insiders targeting people who don’t understand it.
• Some see crypto as an embarrassment for the broader tech industry, comparable to NFTs and other fads.

Crime, North Korea, and “Playing by the Rules”

• The North Korean hacks are cited as evidence that crypto’s most successful real-world use case is crime: theft, scams, laundering, and sanctions evasion.
• A minority counters that, by crypto’s own “code is law” ethos, using protocol-compliant theft and mixing is simply playing the game as designed—not “cheating.”
• Others push back that moral and legal notions of theft exist outside protocol rules; breaking into systems or deceiving people is still fraud and theft, regardless of blockchain finality.

Regulation, KYC, and Exchanges

• Several note that exchanges now monitor addresses and often freeze clearly stolen funds, partially recreating traditional financial controls.
• There’s debate over KYC/AML: some say Western society benefits; others argue KYC harms privacy, burdens small businesses, and doesn’t clearly reduce crime.
• The Tornado Cash sanctions episode is cited as an example of regulators overreaching by “sanctioning code,” versus focusing on actual criminals.

Custody, Irreversibility, and Deflation

• The absence of FDIC-style protection and irreversibility of transactions are seen as major weaknesses, especially given common key loss and hacks.
• Comparison is made to losing a physical wallet: critics note people keep far more value in crypto wallets than in cash, making losses catastrophic.
• Lost coins and hacked funds are viewed as making Bitcoin effectively deflationary and unattractive as a currency.

Alternative Views and Possible Legitimate Uses

• Some participants report legitimate uses: crypto-backed loans, cheaper cross-border payments, and stablecoins as a convenient settlement layer.
• Others argue that smart contracts and instant settlement could reduce billing and reconciliation overhead—but skeptics say these problems are better addressed within regulated fiat systems.
• A long subthread frames the core issue as political, not technological: governance, courts, and regulation versus purely code-driven systems.