Bitcoin experienced its biggest liquidation this year before the weekend, with more than 170,000 people liquidated across the network, and the price of the currency fell to $26,500. Musk's SpaceX wrote down $373 million in Bitcoin in 2022 and 2021, and panic spread instantly. Coupled with the SEC's appeal of the Ripple case, Bitcoin entered a deep oversold area. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made $180 million in profits from crypto hacking.
Musk sold it
The Wall Street Journal cited SpaceX financial documents on Thursday evening, revealing that the company wrote down its total $373 million worth of Bitcoin in 2022 and 2021, and subsequently sold its shares, but was unsure of the specific sales quantity and timing.
As for Tesla, according to the company's second-quarter financial report released in July, its Bitcoin holdings remained unchanged for four consecutive seasons, with a holding of 10,800 coins and a book value of US$184 million, the same as in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Although Tesla's holdings have not changed, the current Bitcoin price has soared from the $16,000 range at the end of 2022 to $30,000, a surge of more than 85%, indicating that about $148 million of Bitcoin appreciation income has not been recorded on the balance sheet. Bitcoin is recognized as an intangible asset, so current accounting standards do not allow such income to be included.
Kim Jong-un smiled
The North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group has been found to be the culprit behind many large-scale thefts on many occasions. South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) recently announced that it has mastered the arms trade and military material imports between North Korea and Russia, and revealed that North Korean hackers have obtained more than US$180 million through cryptocurrencies in the first half of this year.
Blockchain analysis company Elliptic pointed out that Lazarus Group has obtained more than $2 billion in illegal income after launching multiple cryptocurrency thefts. According to Chainalysis data, usually 50% of the funds obtained by these hackers are used to fund North Korea's missile program. In 2019, North Korea's annual defense expenditure was estimated to be $4 billion, accounting for 26% of its total economy.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service said that military cooperation between Russia and North Korea has begun since early August, with Russian transport planes intensively transporting military supplies from Pyongyang. It is expected that the military cooperation between the two countries will continue to strengthen in the future, and the National Intelligence Service is also closely tracking whether Russia's core nuclear missile technology will be given to North Korea.
On-chain detective ZachXBT also tracked that Lazarus Group has pooled funds from several hacking operations, involving more than $290 million, and is suspected of withdrawing funds. He wrote: "Recently, Lazarus Group has pooled funds stolen from Harmony, Atomic Wallet, and Coinspaid/Alphapo attacks, which have caused losses of more than $290 million."
