Here’s How RUNE Became Kim Jong Un’s Favorite Crypto

THORChain (RUNE), as soon as hailed as a game-changer for trustless crypto swaps, has turn out to be Kim Jong Un’s favourite cryptocurrency. Not precisely the legacy its founders had in thoughts, huh?

Accusations tie the platform to North Korea’s laundering of stolen property, turning its decentralized credo into an ethical debate. The fallout has reignited fierce debates over blockchain’s blurred line between innovation and exploitation.

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Kim Jong Un Crypto Technique: The Bybit Hack and THORChain’s (RUNE) Position

The difficulty started with the large $1.4 billion hack of crypto trade Bybit in February 2025, the most important cryptocurrency theft in historical past.

North Korea’s Lazarus Group, professionals at digital larceny, cracked Bybit’s Ethereum wallets in a brazen transfer that netted a fortune. The rating, roughly $1.2 billion, discovered its method by way of THORChain, a decentralized platform that focuses on cross-chain swaps between main cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Thorchain not doing something to cease the motion of stolen ETH by way of their platform is not going to finish effectively.

Humorous how one individual can shut down ThorFi in 2 minutes, however in relation to stopping North Korea laundering billions of {dollars} of Ethereum by way of Thorchain, it is… pic.twitter.com/bIFYluIHKd

— Ed | AirdropGlideApp (@AirdropGlideapp) February 27, 2025

Blockchain safety knowledgeable Taylor Monahan summarized the enchantment for shady operators: “THORChain enables you to bounce from Ethereum to Bitcoin with out leaving a hint. Earlier than this, swaps like that weren’t attainable with out banks freezing every thing.”

Decentralized, unregistered, and uncontrollable, THORChain has turn out to be the weapon of selection for laundering on the blockchain.

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Moral Issues For RUNE Crypto and Neighborhood Backlash

The revelations have raised urgent moral questions for decentralized platforms. Not like different crypto providers that froze transactions linked to the Bybit hack (akin to Tether and Mantle), THORChain operators declined to intervene regardless of requests from companies just like the FBI.

THORChain’s validators briefly paused Ethereum swaps in response to the FBI’s discover however resumed inside half-hour after neighborhood pushback. JP Thor (John-Paul Thorbjornsen), the challenge’s founder, maintained that the community ought to stay impartial, stating, “The protocol retains working and swapping regardless of chaos. It’s doing nice, really.”

Many within the crypto area don’t agree.

“When the large majority of your flows are stolen funds from North Korea for the most important cash heist in human historical past, it can turn out to be a nationwide safety challenge,” warned a THORChain developer often known as “TCB” in an X publish.

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Is THORChain Really Decentralized?

THORChain is a decentralized utopia, constructed on validator authority and its RUNE-staked ecosystem. However one developer shutting the community down in January shattered that phantasm for a lot of, reigniting accusations of “decentralization theater.”

The stakes transcend credibility. Platforms like Twister Money and Bitzlato have already confronted sanctions and crackdowns for enabling soiled cash. THORChain may very well be subsequent in line. A former Treasury official summed it up coldly: “If you happen to’re taking advantage of Lazarus Group’s hacked funds, you’ve acquired an OFAC drawback.”

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