How Crypto Is Fighting Back Against North Korea | The Breakdown

North Korea has had IT workers embedded in DeFi protocols since DeFi Summer — and they’re pretty good devs. Nick Bax, blockchain investigator and SEAL 911 incident responder, joins us to break down how crypto crime has evolved from SIM swaps to nation-state social engineering. We unpack the Monero inflation bug, Arbitrum’s 9/12 multisig gold standard, how DPRK workers now use facilitators to rent real identities, and what it actually takes to break into onchain investigation. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction (02:01) DeFi is Under Attack (03:11) Contagion Onchain (04:40) Nexo Ad (05:16) Nick Bax Interview (06:40) Incident Response Triage (08:43) Preemptive Due Diligence (10:20) From SIM Swaps To Remote Access (13:45) Multisig Best Practices (14:37) AI Speeds Up Attacks (15:36) Nexo Ad (17:14) Decentralization Tradeoffs (19:17) Monero Bug Hard Fork (20:05) Trusting Multisig Guardians (21:05) Two Of Five Risks (22:00) DeFi Decentralization Debate (23:41) Proactive Threat Hunting (25:25) DPRK Worker Red Flags (27:32) Security Teams And Intel (30:21) Thorchain And Laundering (33:26) Whack A Mole Reality (35:31) Becoming Onchain Investigator (37:06) Closing Thoughts FOLLOW GUEST › Nick Bax — https://x.com/bax1337 FOLLOW THE SHOW › David — https://x.com/dcanellis › The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW SPONSORS › NEXO Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/breakdown Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to the Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ DISCLAIMER As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.