Crypto exchange staffer jailed for selling military secrets to North Korea for Bitcoin

Staffer’s $487,000 Bitcoin payment “traced to North Korean wallets.”
Employee convinced army captain to wear secret camera on South Korean military base.
Military police thwarted a USB port attack.

An employee at an unnamed South Korean crypto exchange will go to jail for four years for convincing an army captain to sell military secrets to North Korea for Bitcoin.

The South Korean Supreme Court heard that North Korean hackers handed the exchange staffer $487,000 in Bitcoin to “recruit” a captain in the South Korean armed forces. For his part, the captain received $33,500 in Bitcoin, the South Korean media outlet Dailianreported.

“The defendant must have been aware that he was attempting to uncover military secrets for a country or organisation hostile to South Korea,” the judge said. “This crime could have endangered the entire country. And it was committed in pursuit of personal financial gains.”

The case comes as tensions between the two countries continue to rise. As security experts accuse North Korea of masterminding attacks on crypto wallets, Pyongyang has unveiled pictures of a new nuclear submarine and announced fresh cruise missile tests.

The blockchain analytics firm Elliptic says North Korea-linked hackers stole over $2 billion in crypto in 2025, with Pyongyang making off with around $6 billion in hacked crypto to date.

A ‘watch-shaped camera’

The Supreme Court upheld a district court sentence of four years in prison for the exchange staffer, as well as a further four years of suspension from financial sector-related activities. The staffer told the court he was unaware his interlocutor was a North Korean agent.

The captain, surnamed Kim, was previously jailed for 10 years and fined $35,000 for violating the Military Secrets Protection Act. The exchange employee, meanwhile, was found guilty of violating the National Security Act.

The court heard that the exchange employee approached another officer with a similar officer in 2021, but was rebutted. He then met the captain, aged 30, in a Telegram open chat room, offering to pay him in Bitcoin if he agreed to hand over secret information.

The captain agreed to the proposal and proceeded to attempt to obtain login information for the Korean Joint Command and Control System.

The system is a data-sharing platform used to pool United States and South Korean military intelligence.

Prosecutors said the staffer sent a “watch-shaped hidden camera” to the captain under the hacker’s instructions. The captain wore this device at a military installation.

USB attack plan

The exchange employee then gave the captain a “hacking device” to attach to a USB port on a military laptop. This device would allow hackers to control the device remotely, prosecutors added.

This sophisticated subterfuge yielded no breakthroughs for Pyongyang, however. The court heard that the hacker was unable to use the information to access the system and that military police arrested the captain before he could connect the USB device.

Prosecutors said they had determined the hacker was North Korean by analysing blockchain data, helping them trace wallet address information to Pyongyang-linked spy groups.

Tim Alper is a News Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..