Why North Korea Is Winning Crypto Crime and How to Fight Back | Ari Redbord, TRM Labs

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Tech News, Technology, News

4.7 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2026

⏱️ 91 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

North Korea isn’t just hacking crypto anymore, it’s studying it, infiltrating it, and turning DeFi’s weakest links into a state-run revenue machine. This time around, Ryan and David sit down with Ari Redbord of TRM Labs to unpack the Drift hack, the $6B DPRK crypto crime machine, how stolen funds move through THORChain, Bitcoin, OTC desks, and Chinese laundering networks, and why the fightback may require everything from better DeFi security to real-time Beacon alerts and offensive cyber. --- 🎬 DEBRIEF | RYAN & DAVID BREAKDOWN THE EPISODE https://www.bankless.com/podcast/debrief-why-north-korea-is-winning-crypto-crime-and-how-to-fight-back-ari-redbord-trm-labs --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🟦 COINBASE ONE | GET 20% OFF https://bankless.cc/coinbase-one 🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS 🦊 METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download 🌐BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix 💰NEXO | Get your 30-day access to Wealth Club Premier https://bankless.cc/nexo --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 2:16 The Drift Hack 5:15 Human Weak Points 11:16 The DPRK Hacker Network 14:56 The $6B Machine 20:32 Fighting Back 28:11 Seizures and Victims 38:58 Inside TRM Labs 47:01 Laundering Rails 52:51 The Beacon Network 58:06 Privacy vs Security 1:10:20 Code and Crime 1:14:49 Iran on Tron 1:22:55 Bitcoin and Power 1:28:49 Hardening DeFi --- RESOURCES Ari Redbord https://x.com/ARedbord TRM Labs https://www.trmlabs.com/ TRM’s DPRK Report https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/north-korea-stole-76-of-all-crypto-hack-value-in-2026-with-just-two-attacks Ari’s Homeland Security Testimony https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/119126/witnesses/HHRG-119-HM11-Wstate-RedbordA-20260421.pdf --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Transcript

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0:00.0	I've kind of rejected this idea that these are North Korea state sponsored, right? I would never
0:04.5	use that term in our writing or the way we talked about these things. These are state actors,
0:09.2	hard stop. When I talk about the enemies of the United States and our allies, I think about China and
0:14.2	Russia and Iran. And I put North Korea in there as well, which is crazy, right? This is a country
0:19.9	with absolutely no economy whatsoever,
0:23.1	and yet they're competing on the global stage because they've professionalized cybercrime,
0:29.5	essentially. There is absolutely no economy, so it's always been how do we steal and then
0:35.9	ultimately launder funds, and crypto is just the latest iteration of that.
0:42.9	Welcome to bankless where today we explore why North Korea is winning crypto crime and how we fight back.
0:49.1	This is Ryan Sean Adams. I'm here with David Hoffman and we're here to help you become more bankless.
0:55.0	Big topic today. It seems to be that every single day there is a hack in Defi.
1:00.0	At least there was almost one every single day for the month of April.
1:02.9	And this is all North Korea and the Lazarus group.
1:05.0	But over in the world of Operation Economic Fury, we also have the IRGC getting their assets frozen on Tron.
1:13.3	And just a few months ago, there was $15 billion in Bitcoin seized out of the pig-bitching
1:17.9	scam out of Cambodia.
1:20.3	So there's just a lot to talk about when it comes to crypto crime and what all the worst
1:25.3	people in the world and how they're using crypto and what we're
1:27.5	doing to fight back against them. So this is the subject today for with Airy Redboard from TRM Labs.
1:32.0	Let's go ahead and get right into that conversation with Ari. Bankless Station excited to introduce
1:35.9	you to Ari Redboard. He is the global head of policy at TRM Labs. This is a blockchain
1:41.8	analytics firm. It's used by governments, major exchanges. Their goal is
	...

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