Lazarus Group's Crypto Theft Nears $11.87B, Equal to 45% of North Korea's GDP

North Korea's Lazarus Group has now stolen roughly $11.87 billion in crypto, according to data posted by CoinDesk and credited to analyst @Darkfost_Coc. The figure is a running total of the hacking crew's crypto haul to date.

Here's the number that makes people sit up: that $11.87 billion works out to about 45% of North Korea's entire GDP. One hacking operation, sized against the output of a whole country.

The tally lands in the wake of a $6.3 billion Binance hack, per the same data. CoinDesk flagged the total as fresh data, with the analyst credited as the source of the calculation.

Lazarus has long been tracked as a North Korean state-linked hacking outfit, and crypto exchanges and bridges have repeatedly been in its crosshairs. The running total puts a price tag on years of those attacks in a single line.

The claim comes from a crypto analyst's data set, not a government or exchange statement, and CoinDesk published the numbers as reported. Neither Binance nor North Korean officials have commented in the post.

The headline stat is the comparison — a single group's alleged thefts equaling nearly half of a nation's economic output. Expect the $11.87 billion figure and the 45% benchmark to keep circulating as analysts update the ledger.