For many years now, the media periodically reports news regarding the alleged mischiefs pinned on the North Korean hackers that are seemingly detriment to target fintech businesses. But this fact seems quite odd, considering that the International Telecommunication Union estimated that the actual percentage of the population of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea using the internet is close to zero.
Definitively, it is an environment not favorable for nourishing the skills and ambitions neither of vicious cyber-criminals nor honest cyber-entrepreneurs. However, the North Korean case shows how cryptocurrencies — born as nationality-neutral and government-free — could be twisted to become a strategic weapon, alongside more traditional instruments used in the power struggle among countries.