North Korea-Linked Lazarus Group Owns Significantly More Bitcoin Than Elon Musk's Tesla

Elon Musk's Tesla is lagging behind a North Korean hacker group in bitcoin holdings as President Trump aims to make the US the crypto capital of the world.

Omkar Godbole | Edited by Parikshit Mishra , Mar 21, 2025 6:11 UTC

Key facts:

• The Lazarus Group, a North Korean cybercriminal organization, owns more Bitcoin than Tesla.
• Last month, the Lazarus group attacked the crypto exchange Bybit, stealing $1.4 billion worth of Ether, some of which was exchanged for Bitcoin.
• Despite Tesla's massive Bitcoin holdings, it has been overshadowed by a North Korean hacker organization.

The Lazarus hacker group, which has close ties to North Korea, owns more Bitcoin (BTC) than Tesla (TSLA), the electric car maker led by Elon Musk, according to Arkham Intelligence.

At the time of writing, Lazarus had 13,441 BTC in its possession, worth $1.14 billion, according to Arkham Intelligence. That's 16% more than Tesla's Bitcoin holdings of 11,509 BTC.

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Last month, the Lazarus group attacked cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, stealing $1.4 billion in ether (ETH) from the platform. Some of the stolen funds were recently converted into bitcoin, with 12,836 BTC being distributed across 9,117 unique wallets, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou confirmed.

Tesla acquired its Bitcoin holdings four years ago and has been HODLing ever since, making it the fourth-largest public company in the world by BTC holdings.

The stark contrast between Tesla and the Lazarus Group comes even as President Donald Trump's positive stance on cryptocurrency has prompted calls for accelerated adoption of BTC by corporations and sovereign nations around the world.

On Thursday, Trump reiterated his determination to make the U.S. the “undisputed Bitcoin superpower and crypto capital of the world.” It will be interesting to see how Tesla and other U.S. companies respond to being eclipsed by a North Korean hacking group.

Meanwhile, the US government holds 198,109 BTC, worth more than $16 billion, representing coins confiscated through enforcement actions, which Trump recently declared a strategic reserve.

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