Update (Oct. 28, 2020 at 3:45 p.m. KST): This article has been updated to clarify the technical characteristics of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

This year, North Korea has been hit by the “triple whammy” of sanctions, typhoons and COVID-19. In order to supplement its overwhelmed financial resources and to manage the ongoing crises without asking for outside help, the regime is relying on the one tool it can still wield – hacking.

Waves of domestic and international crises have driven the regime into an ever-more desperate scramble for hard currency and goods via indiscriminate cyberattacks — which have, in