North Korea carried out covert experiments from January via Might in China to check whether or not it may generate international foreign money via NFTs primarily based on its distinctive content material.
A Every day NK supply mentioned lately that “a number of technical employees from the Korea Laptop Middle disguised themselves as commerce representatives beginning in late January, rented a number of areas in China, and experimented with incomes international foreign money by promoting NFT (Non-Fungible Token) works on NFT marketplaces.”
The supply added that “the technical employees submitted their closing report back to North Korea on Might 19 and have since withdrawn.”
The experiment was a part of North Korea’s efforts to safe new international foreign money income streams. The technical employees, divided into teams of two to 3 folks, spent about 5 months in numerous Chinese language cities accessing abroad networks to look at technical feasibility and profitability.
“North Korea was extra within the market platforms the place NFTs are traded and buildings that permit nameless asset transfers than in NFTs themselves,” the supply mentioned. “They experimented with strategies to hide precise possession via blockchain wallets and handle NFT property and earnings by registering below third-country company names.”
In accordance with the supply, the technical employees transformed distinctive content material equivalent to Mount Kumgang panorama pictures, Goryeo celadon photos and inside maps of North Korean mines into digital NFTs. They tried to register and promote these on Southeast Asian NFT marketplaces in Thailand and the Philippines, the place id verification necessities are much less stringent.
The employees rented a number of areas below the names of a tourism and leisure firm registered in Beijing and an actual property improvement firm registered in Zhuzhou, Hunan province, the place they carried out their experiments. After finishing their closing report on Might 19, they withdrew, abandoning no personnel or supplies.
Impractical as a direct income supply
“The technical employees’s closing report included an evidence that ‘cash are digital foreign money working on blockchain, whereas NFTs are digital property or vouchers positioned on high of that,’” the supply mentioned. “Whereas technical feasibility was confirmed, they concluded there have been institutional and sensible limitations to producing earnings.”
The report discovered that whereas NFT-based international foreign money technology was technically doable, numerous issues existed together with authorized dangers in China, instability of Southeast Asian NFT marketplaces and excessive working prices relative to earnings, making it impractical as a direct income supply.
“Whereas there have been expectations inside North Korea that this might grow to be a brand new international foreign money acquisition methodology to evade sanctions, the technical employees decided it was inefficient,” the supply mentioned.
“This was only one experiment amongst numerous international foreign money methods. Whereas it’s unlikely for use as a sensible income methodology within the close to time period, additional analysis primarily based on this five-month experiment and report is anticipated to proceed.”
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