Thank Kim Jong Un for your crypto gains

Due to heavy sanctions placed on the country for its nuclear weapons testing, North Korea has long run a series of “side businesses” like drug trafficking, endangered species trading, money laundering, and currency counterfeiting to provide hard cash to the Kim regime.

Naturally, bitcoin trading came next.

There are a couple of ingredients needed to perfect the North’s cyber-piracy scheme. The regime first needs to gain access to cryptocurrencies, then it must pump up the prices of those assets to maximize its returns. Finally, it needs to dispose of its coins and receive the hard currency the Kim regime so desperately desires.

North Korea is essentially bankrupt, so opening a Coinbase wallet was never going to be the right approach. Instead, the country has taken advantage of its skillsets to steal bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies from around the world.

Earlier this week, Secureworks announced that it had determined that the Lazarus group, which it assessed to be behind the late 2014 Sony cyber attack, was likely the party responsible for a spearfishing campaign targeting bitcoin traders with an email offering a CFO job for an unnamed bitcoin company. Clicking on a link would install software that would allow a hacker to seize control of the device, presumably to steal wallet accounts.

In addition, the South Korean bitcoin exchange Youbit has allegedly faced multiple waves of attacks from North Korean hackers. In April, hackers stole more than $72 million in cryptocurrencies from the exchange, and it was hacked again earlier this week, losing $35 million in the process. On Tuesday, the exchange collapsed and officially shut down.

Youbit’s misfortunes are shared by other South Korea-based crypto exchanges like Bithumb, and the South Korean government has dramatically increased its investigations into these hacks and is considering issuing additional regulations on cryptocurrencies to partially stanch the damage.

While we don’t know with precision who is behind each of these hacks, the pattern is quite clear according to security researchers: North Korea is actively hacking the bitcoin and cryptocurrency ecosystem in a push to gain as much cryptocurrency for the regime as possible.

If that were the entire story, it would be interesting, but not devilish. Where North Korea gets even more interesting is how it pumps up the price of crypto assets by increasing uncertainty and distrustfulness through its nuclear weapons testing and traditional bank hacking.

Retail Asian investors are key to the dizzying gains made by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies this year. As the Wall Street Journal and CryptoCompare noted, “by the end of November, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam accounted for nearly 80% of bitcoin trading activity globally,” with South Korea being a particularly large hotspot.

Crypto’s rise in the region is certainly fueled by a desire for quick returns, a lack of access to strong investment opportunities, a fear of capital controls particularly in China, and a wide familiarity with digital payment tools.

But there is also the instability and uncertainty of North Korea, which has aggressively expanded its nuclear missile testing over the past three years. Before 2014, the country had launched a total of 39 missile tests according to a dataset from the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. There were then 19 tests in 2014, 15 in 2015, 24 in 2016 and 20 so far this year, totaling 78 tests in the last three years, or exactly double the number of all tests conducted in the previous six decades.

While South Koreans are largely inured to the antics of their northern neighbor, the increasing scale of the missile tests has increased the general awareness in the region that the Kim regime could create vast economic instability, and on a particularly short time scale.

On top of that, North Korea’s hacks of traditional banks have increased awareness of the brittleness of our financial infrastructure. North Korea is believed to be behind the hacks of more than a dozen banks, including a $101 million heist from the central bank of Bangladesh. It’s also believed to be behind the debilitating hack of South Korea’s banking infrastructure in 2013, which led to wide computer outages at major Seoul-based banks. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt are a powerful elixir, and together, they have assisted with the reception of cryptocurrencies in Asia.

Now that the price of Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies has jumped, the North Koreans are presumably trying to end their exposure and translate their hard hacking work into real currency. While Bitcoin is not anonymous, various techniques can be used to limit exposure. Who better to launder money than a country that has specialized in that business for decades?

Kim Jong Un may not literally own a Coinbase account (or does he?). But the North’s hacking and provocations have synchronized to create a potential windfall for the regime. Kim may well be the next crypto-millionaire, and might have helped thousands of others in the process.

Featured Image: STR / Contributor/Getty Images

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Ice, snow and rain from 3 storms to hinder Christmas travel in central, eastern US

As millions take to the roads or prepare to fly to their destinations, winter storms will be on the prowl in the central and eastern United States through Christmas morning.

A record 107.3 million people will take to planes, trains, aircraft and buses during the period from Saturday, Dec. 23, through Monday, Jan 1, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

While no intense storms are forecast, there will be areas of rain, ice and snow affecting heavily populated areas and popular travel routes.

The first storm will move on to target areas from the upper Gulf coast to the lower Great Lakes, central and southern Appalachians and the Interstate 95 corridor of the Northeast with rain from Friday to Saturday.

Snow, ice and treacherous travel from the first storm will spread from the central Great Lakes to part of the central Appalachians and New England into Saturday.

RELATED: 2017 winter weather predictions

This year’s Farmer’s Almanac predicts less precipitation in the Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest, but other areas might not be so lucky …

Source: www.almanac.com

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted La Nina will potentially emerge this winter season, bringing with it above-average precipitation and below-average cold temperatures.

Source: www.noaa.gov

For example, the Rockies would likely be rocked with abundant snowfall, while the Midwest would be plagued with blasts of cold air.

Source: www.accuweather.com

Another more wonky model from Atmospheric and Environmental Research predicts that colder temperatures could hit the East Coast if there is a stratospheric polar vortex disruption.

Changes in the jet stream have a direct impact on weather patterns, and in the earliest days of December Americans could see a cold front and snow in the Plains and upper Great Lakes.

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Another storm to blanket Rockies, Plains and Upper Midwest with snow into Christmas Eve

The second storm of concern will bring accumulating snow to the central Rockies, including the Denver area on Saturday, before turning eastward Saturday night and Sunday.

It is this second storm that has the greatest potential to leave some snow on the ground for a white Christmas in parts of the central Plains, Ohio Valley states and central Appalachians.

Airline delays will be possible due to deicing operations while portions of I-25, I-35, I-69, I-70, I-74, I-75, I-77, I-80 and I-90 will be slippery.

Accumulating snow is forecast in Omaha, Nebraska; Kansas City, Missouri; Des Moines, Iowa; St. Louis; Chicago; Indianapolis; Detroit; Cleveland and Toronto as it rolls out Saturday night and Christmas Eve. Snow may cover the ground in Evansville, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; and Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus, Ohio.

Snow showers may linger over the central and northern Rockies in the wake of the storm.

The same storm is also projected to spread snow into parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and western New York at night on Christmas Eve.

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Dangerous cold to settle over north-central US by Christmas Day 
Best and worst days, times to travel during the Christmas holiday 
Holiday air travel: 5 health risks and tips to avoid them 
Why the devastating California wildfires have been so unusual, extreme this December

It is after dark on Christmas Eve, when the storm from the Midwest will attempt to join up with a budding storm along the Atlantic coast.

Third storm to bring snow to part of mid-Atlantic, New England Sunday night to Christmas Day

The track and strength of the storm, as well as the speed at which much colder air arrives, will determine the form of precipitation from parts of eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey to southeastern New England from Sunday night to early Christmas Day.

At this time, all or mostly rain is forecast from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia and Atlantic City, New Jersey.

However, snow and sleet are likely to mix in toward the end of the storm from near Allentown and Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Trenton, New Jersey; New York City; Hartford, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; and Boston late Sunday night to Christmas morning.

If the two storms merge together and strengthen at a fast pace, then accumulating snow may fall as far to the southwest as Washington, D.C.

The storms are likely to come together fast enough to bring a heavy snowfall for much of central and northwestern New England and northeastern New York state on Christmas Day. It is in these areas where travel to church services, friends and family may be difficult.

Elsewhere, dry weather and a wildfire risk will continue in California, while a couple of storms may bring rounds of mixed precipitation to the coastal Northwest into Christmas Day.

Much colder air entering the middle of the nation during the weekend prior to Christmas will be just the start of a frigid weather pattern for many. Aside from storms, a broadening blast of cold air will be a major factor in the weather during the week of Christmas.

The frigid air will unleash bands of lake-effect snow and may pave the way for snow and ice as additional storms are likely to come about.

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