An analysis finds that the 18,270 bitcoin a North Korea-linked hacking group took from Binance is 199 more than the 18,071 bitcoin Coinbase, the largest US crypto exchange, holds for itself. The comparison gauges not the hack's mechanics but how large an asset pile has ended up on the North Korean side.
According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun on the 2nd, the North Korea-linked group stole 18,270 bitcoin from Binance on Oct. 29, worth about $1.48 billion, or roughly 1.98 trillion won, at recent prices. The report drew on data from CoinDesk and blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.
광고 문의 · 300×250Against companies and countries
Coinbase's holdings, the benchmark used, were 18,071 bitcoin as of late September, counting only its own investment and operating holdings and excluding customer custody. The stolen amount is 199 more. It is about 59% more than Tesla's 11,509 and close to SpaceX's 18,712.
Against countries the gap is wider. El Salvador, which had adopted bitcoin as legal tender, holds about 7,820, so the haul is about 2.3 times that. The report also compared it with North Korea's 2025 goods exports of $468.59 million (KOTRA); the stolen bitcoin is worth roughly three times that.
Limits of the comparison
The comparison needs a caveat. Coinbase's figure counts only the company's own holdings, and how much of the stolen bitcoin remains where after the Binance incident was not confirmed in this report. The claim that North Korea holds more bitcoin than Coinbase should therefore be read as a comparison based on the amount at the time of the theft.
Including Ethereum and stablecoins, total losses in the case are about $6.4 billion (roughly 8.6 trillion won), counted as the largest single hack in crypto history. The sequence of events and laundering routes were covered in our Nov. 1 article; this piece focuses on gauging the scale of the stolen assets.
