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Only 0.0005% of the $11 billion collected in income tax in Colorado since 2022, amounting to just over $57,000, has been paid using crypto.The State of Colorado began accepting crypto-based tax payments in September 2022, under a policy introduced by Governor Jared Polis.Yet figures shared with Colorado Newsline by the Colorado Department of Revenue reveal that only eight payments using crypto were made in 2022, amounting to a grand total of only $16,426.This rose to 22 payments and a total of $23,241 in 2023, before declining again in 2024 to $17,544, albeit across 48 payments.“Colorado was the first state to innovate and accept cryptocurrency as payment for state taxes under the leadership of Governor Jared Polis,” said Elizabeth Kosar, director of communications of the Colorado Department of Revenue, speaking to Colorado Newsline.Kosar also clarified that, strictly speaking, Colorado doesn’t actually receive any crypto, with taxpayers using PayPal Cryptocurrencies Hub to convert their digital assets into U.S. dollars at the point of payment.Such information may potentially undermine any notion that cryptocurrency usage for payments is significant in the United States, although research on ownership suggests that 20% of American voters have owned or used crypto at some point.And Bitcoin supporters aren’t surprised that very few Coloradan residents have taken the opportunity to use crypto to pay tax, given that established tokens such as Bitcoin serve more as stores of value than mediums of exchange.“As Michael Saylor says, the one rule of Bitcoin, is to NEVER sell (or spend) your Bitcoin,” Lou Kerner, founder of Web3 live events community CryptoMondays, told Decrypt.Since September 2022 the price of Bitcoin has risen by around 320%, with the cryptocurrency also registering positive annual returns in September 2023 (30%) and September 2024 (125%).Utah is currently the only other U.S. state to accept cryptocurrency payments for tax purposes, although Louisiana accepts crypto as payment for various services and fines.The city of Detroit will also begin accepting digital asset payments for tax from the middle of this year, using the same PayPal conversion service in operation in Colorado and Utah (whereas Louisiana harnesses Bead Pay).Given that cryptocurrency ownership has been rising worldwide over the past few years, there may be an expectation that more states and more nations will begin accepting tax payments via crypto.Yet commentators such as Kerner are skeptical that a significant percentage of crypto-based tax payments will ever involve store-of-value tokens such as Bitcoin.“Over time, stablecoins will emerge as the primary way people transact,” he said. “It's just more efficient for everyone.”Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more

Create an account to save your articles.Create an account to save your articles.Decrypt’s Art, Fashion, and Entertainment Hub. Discover SCENEIn February, North Korean hackers broke headlines with what is now regarded as the largest single hack in crypto history.The Lazarus Group stole at least $1.4 billion from Bybit and later funneled those funds to crypto mixers."Someone had pulled off the biggest hack in [crypto] history, and we had a front-row seat," Samczsun, Research Partner at Paradigm, recalled in a blog post.The researcher said they witnessed the theft in real-time and collaborated with Bybit to confirm the unauthorized access.Samczsun was working with SEAL 911, an emergency response unit affiliated with the Security Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to securing decentralized systems.But these attacks aren't all just about the Lazarus Group. There's more to North Korea's cyber offensives than previously thought.There's a misconception about how to "classify and name” the group's operations.While the term "Lazarus Group" is "colloquially acceptable," discussing how the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) runs its cyber operations on the offensive needs more rigor, Samczsun claimed.Lazarus Group has become the preferred term by the media when describing DPRK cyberactivity. Cybersecurity researchers "created more precise designations" to show which ones are working on specific activities, they added.A hacking bureauThe DPRK's hacking ecosystem operates under the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), which houses several distinct groups: AppleJeus, APT38, DangerousPassword, and TraderTraitoThese groups operate with specific targeting methodologies and technical capabilities.TraderTraitor, identified as the most sophisticated DPRK actor targeting the crypto industry, focuses on exchanges with large reserves and employs advanced techniques, successfully compromising Axie Infinity through fake job offers and manipulating WazirX.AppleJeus specializes in complex supply chain attacks, including the 2023 3CX hack that potentially affected 12 million users.Dangerous Password, meanwhile, conducts lower-end social engineering through phishing emails and malicious messaging on platforms like Telegram.Another subgroup, APT38, spun out of Lazarus in 2016 and focused on financial crimes. It first targeted traditional banks before shifting attention to crypto platforms.In 2018, the OFAC first mentioned "North Korean IT workers," which in 2023 were identified by researchers as "Contagious Interview" and "Wagemole," operating through schemes where the threat actors either pose as recruiters or attempt to get hired by target companies.There's still hopeWhile the DPRK has shown its ability to deploy zero-day attacks, there have been "no recorded or known incidents" of it deploying directly against the crypto industry, Samczsun said.The researcher urged crypto companies to implement basic security practices such as least privilege access, two-factor authentication, and device segregation. If preventive measures fail, connecting with security groups like SEAL 911 and the FBI's DPRK unit would also be helpful."DPRK hackers are an ever-growing threat against our industry, and we can't defeat an enemy that we don't know or understand," Samczsun wrote.Edited by Sebastian Sinclair