North Korea conducted covert experiments from January through May in China to test whether it could generate foreign currency through NFTs based on its unique content.
A Daily NK source said recently that “several technical staff from the Korea Computer Center disguised themselves as trade representatives starting in late January, rented multiple locations in China, and experimented with earning foreign currency by selling NFT (Non-Fungible Token) works on NFT marketplaces.”
The source added that “the technical staff submitted their final report to North Korea on May 19 and have since withdrawn.”
The experiment was part of North Korea’s efforts to secure new foreign currency revenue streams. The technical staff, divided into groups of two to three people, spent about five months in various Chinese cities accessing overseas networks to examine technical feasibility and profitability.
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“North Korea was more interested in the marketplace platforms where NFTs are traded and structures that allow anonymous asset transfers than in NFTs themselves,” the source said. “They experimented with methods to conceal actual ownership through blockchain wallets and manage NFT assets and profits by registering under third-country corporate names.”
According to the source, the technical staff converted unique content such as Mount Kumgang landscape photos, Goryeo celadon images and internal maps of North Korean mines into digital NFTs. They attempted to register and sell these on Southeast Asian NFT marketplaces in Thailand and the Philippines, where identity verification requirements are less stringent.
Impractical as an immediate revenue source
“The technical staff’s final report included an explanation that ‘coins are digital currency operating on blockchain, while NFTs are digital assets or vouchers placed on top of that,’” the source said. “While technical feasibility was confirmed, they concluded there were institutional and practical limitations to generating profits.”
The report found that while NFT-based foreign currency generation was technically possible, various problems existed including legal risks in China, instability of Southeast Asian NFT marketplaces and high operating costs relative to profits, making it impractical as an immediate revenue source.
“While there were expectations within North Korea that this could become a new foreign currency acquisition method to evade sanctions, the technical staff determined it was inefficient,” the source said.
“This was just one experiment among various foreign currency strategies. While it’s unlikely to be used as a practical revenue method in the near term, further research based on this five-month experiment and report is expected to continue.”
Source: https://www.dailynk.com/
