Hacker News Reader

There's signs that a few state actors are using cryptocurrencies to bypass sanctions and/or move wealth otherwise frozen. North Korea, Russia, Iran, etc.

And since sanctions make it hard(er) for them to buy crypto with fiat in the large amounts they need, it makes sense for them to steal it, or buy stolen assets.

From the BBC’s Lazarus Group reporting, they mostly seem to launder the money they steal through casinos in unregulated jurisdictions.

North Korea

tell me how NK woould steal 6B, or any money, with a virtual hack, from a bank. not by going in there guns blazing.

They were at this long before crypto. Look up "Bangladesh Bank robbery", for example, where NK hackers attempted to steal almost $1 billion from the Bangladesh central bank in 2016 (and were partially successful).

Did you follow the news at all about crypto heists? This is very common and well known.