The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has become the world's third largest holder of bitcoin after the US and the UK. The hacker group Lazarus, which is linked to the DPRK government, holds 13,580 bitcoins worth £886 million pounds (about $1.14 billion), The New York Times reports.

Arkham Intelligence, a US company that uses artificial intelligence to identify owners of anonymous cryptocurrency assets, notes that Pyongyang has significantly increased its holdings after a record theft last month. According to Wu Blockchain, the increase occurred after an attack on the Bybit crypto exchange, in which hackers converted stolen Ethereum into Bitcoin.

North Korea has overtaken El Salvador with 6,117 coins and Bhutan with 10,635 BTC in Bitcoin reserves. Only the United States with 198,109 bitcoins and the United Kingdom with 61,245 coins remain ahead of the DPRK. At the same time, the EU is not yet interested in reserves consisting of cryptocurrencies, ECB President Christine Lagarde noted at the end of January.

Unlike El Salvador, which has officially adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, North Korea uses cryptocurrency to circumvent international sanctions. Cryptocurrency market experts link the activity of North Korean hackers to the regime's attempts to finance state programs.

The US and UK governments received their bitcoins by confiscating funds belonging to criminals.