North Korea Reportedly Creating Its Own 'Cryptocurrency'

We have seen the rise and fall of cryptocurrency that made people billionaires overnight. Not just common folks, governments across the world also seem to be interested in this new form of money.

According to a new Vice report (via Gizmodo), North Korea is planning to come up with its own form of cryptocurrency. The unnamed crypto coin will be “more bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies,” as per Alejandro Cao de Benos, in-charge of North Korea’s cryptocurrency conferences. The first-ever such conference was held back in April this year.

The new plans didn’t just popped out of nowhere, as the country has been doing preparations for a while now. Back in 2017, it even launched a crypto crash course at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.

Cao de Benos suggests North Korea has signed contracts with some “big names” in the fields of education, medicine, and finance during the conference. However, the names couldn’t be revealed “due to sanctions and fake news.” It’s believed that these big names include China and Russia.

As to why the country seems so much interested in crypto is the fact that it provides “high anonymity, difficulty in tracking funds, and easy cash flow,” according to a past report by The Diplomat.

In the past, North Korea has been linked to cryptocurrency-related cyber-attacks and other hacking operations. Also, it has been accused of doing illicit activities, like drug trade, human trafficking, and arms sales.

However, the reality of the situation is that governments and law enforcement officers are able to track bitcoin transactions. Still, it would give North Korea a lot of control over how the cryptocurrency would work.

That’s one of the reasons why other nations including Russia, Iran, and Venezuela have worked on their own crypto projects. However, the story didn’t turn out to be good for Venezuela which got banned by the Trump administration. Its cryptocurrency was perceived by experts as propaganda rather than an actual effort to create a new monetary system.