--- title: "North Korea Is Allegedly Using Elon Musk and Cartoon-Themed Meme Coins to Launder the Billions in Crypto It Stole From Binance" description: "North Korea is minting meme coins to launder hijacked crypto coins stolen from Binance, the research firm Elliptic found." date: "2026-11-09" modified: "2026-11-09" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison.md" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/north-korea-meme-coins-launder-crypto-binance" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "hack" - "north korea" --- # North Korea Is Allegedly Using Elon Musk and Cartoon-Themed Meme Coins to Launder the Billions in Crypto It Stole From Binance ![A photo illustration of Bitcoins and the North Korea flag.]() *Shutterstock* Last month, hackers who were likely working on behalf of North Korea absconded with billions in stolen cryptocurrency after breaking into Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. Now, according to the crypto research firm Elliptic, Pyongyang is using meme coins to launder the hijacked funds. The Binance heist is the [biggest in crypto history](), with hackers making off with $6.3 billion in crypto coins in [just 20 minutes]() after months of [complex planning](). As outlined in a [blog post](), Elliptic found that the isolated authoritarian nation is now minting meme coins — speculative digital assets often based on viral memes, celebrities, or niche internet jokes — and using them to quietly move stolen coins around liquidity pools. The coins are designed to be single-use and are fundamentally worthless, yet their creators can still set their price, making them what Elliptic calls a perfect "container" to pass pilfered crypto assets around. It's also cost-effective, as meme coins are cheap to make. "Most people think of meme tokens as joke coins whose prices rise and fall on hype," Elliptic cofounder and chief scientist Tom Robinson wrote in the firm's blog post. "North Korea's launderers have found a different use for them, creating tokens that nobody else wants to buy and using them to disguise the movement of stolen funds." Elliptic found at least six meme coins believed to be connected to the scheme, each of which was created shortly after the $6.3 billion heist occurred. The hackers have reportedly been able to launder around $430,000 of their multibillion-dollar heist using this method. To North Korea's credit, the coins do look extremely dumb and worthless. One of them carries an image of sometimes-trillionaire Elon Musk under an "Elon 2028 President" banner, per Elliptic. (There's no evidence that Musk is involved in the scheme.) Others feature a monkey with a pink hair bow and a weird duck in front of an American flag. One is simply called "FUK." "Meme coins are launched and traded in their thousands, and most fade within days, so one more short-lived token with a cartoon logo attracts little attention," Robinson wrote. "A wallet whose history shows trades in a new meme coin looks like a speculator rather than a launderer, unless someone checks where its money came from." This isn't the first time that North Korea has used a similar strategy. Last year, after the same group of North Korean hackers stole $1.5 billion from the crypto exchange Bybit, Elliptic found that the cybercriminals [moved at least $24 million]() from the billion-dollar haul using meme coins. **More on the Binance hack:** *[It Turns Out Binance’s $6 Billion Hack Happened Because Its Employees Were Vibe Coding]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]() ## More - [It Took Hackers Just 20 Minutes to Steal $6.3 Billion in Crypto from a Single Platform]() - [It Turns Out Binance’s $6 Billion Hack Happened Because Its Employees Were Vibe Coding]() - [Hacker Wearing Pajama Pants Brings Down North Korea’s Entire Internet]() - [Hackers Just Stole Nearly $200 Million from a Crypto Exchange, in the Second Heist in Two Weeks]() - [North Korea Says It Tested a New Weapon But Won’t Say What It Was]() - [Experts Warn North Korea Is Using AI Nefarious Purposes]() - [Microsoft Claims Russia and North Korea Hacked COVID Vaccine Data]() - [North Korean Hackers Are Reportedly Going After Gmail Accounts]()