'Guard rails' must be set up to protect crypto currency in Britain after the record $6.3billion hack, the Bank of England's former Deputy Governor said on Saturday.
Sir Jon Cunliffe added, following last week's attack on the world's largest crypto exchange Binance, that the technology was growing and would become closer to mainstream banking systems.
'We are seeing with social media platforms how difficult it is to retrofit regulation if you don't actually put the guardrails in early on,' he warned.
But he also stressed that as Binance was not authorised or operated in the UK, 'we were not yet' at the point where the mainstream system could be destabilised by a major crypto hack.
Cyber investigators have named North Korea, led by supreme leader Kim Jong Un, as the most likely $6.3billion hacker.
Experts from two major analytics firms, TRM Labs and Chainalysis, say North Korea's state–backed Lazarus Group carried out what one called 'a highly sophisticated and well–planned attack'.
The group was identified by the FBI through key 'signatures' used by North Korea, which is also blamed for the previous largest $1.5billion hack of the Bybit exchange in 2025.
Cybersecurity investigators and blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis believe North Korea's state–backed Lazarus Group carried out the attack. Pictured is North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un
Isabella Chase, head of policy at TRM Labs, told Radio 4's Today programme on saturday that the hack was so sophisticated it would have taken many months to plan.
Ms Chase said it looked as if a developer's laptop was targeted, giving the attackers the approvals needed to take the funds out of the Binance exchange in 20 minutes.
She confirmed $3billion of the stolen funds had been frozen but North Korea 'may profit from a potential $2.4billion'.
'They have to finish laundering it in crypto then move it into the real world, then into the traditional banking system to turn it into cash they can use for their nuclear weapons programme – so they will make considerably less,' she said.
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