North Korea attacks Bitcoin bods to swell its war chest says FireEye

One of two ways. Use crypto-currencies directly to purchase what they need in various black markets or they convert to fiat currencies and use them around the world. Despite all efforts to the contrary, goods still arrive in North Korea over the various smuggling channels that long been in place along the borders with the PRC and with Russia. Short of an absolute blockade with thousands of troops, you aren't going to shut those down. This is all an old game for DPRK predating US and ROK interests in keeping them isolated as a result of their nuclear program.

I'm not an expert in economics but; where there is demand - supply usually follows. Welcome to Nork-Bay 1.0

Think as sanctions as a funnel. Same amount of goods , they just have to be traded through a narrower funnel.

It just the return funnel goes to a few elites and not the main population. A bit like capitalism really.

Sell sell sell.

Bitcoin holders, I strongly advise you to sell now because if NK is acquiring Bitcoins then there will be forces out there.....

How will people pay to get/not get their data released when the next wave of ransomware/locker attacks popular Os's/windows in a year/few months?

Bitcoins are real, they're actual things and I believe in them. I'm about to give my hard-earned to a really reliable organisation run by a bloke I totally trust that I met online in a country where stuff is obviously nice in exchange for a really secure investment opportunity. I think everyone should put money into them ... along with time shares and a nice Spectrum retro-games opportunity ...

Indeed

Plus that mainstay of financial propriety, Dimon of JP Morgan has told us all that not only are BTC a scam, only useful for money launderers and criminals, but also JP employees are banned from trading in it.

This advice is well worth taking. If anyone is an expert on money laundering and financial scams, it's probably JP Morgan. They managed the main Madoff accounts and copped a few billion in fines for that, plus a few billion more in fines for other money laundering laundering (cartel money maybe?) schemes in last few years.

They are also part of the ETH aliance, so either Dimon knows something we don't about BTC vs other cryptos, or he simply doesn't know what his employees are doing (I believe that is a cornerstone of his defence).

So when one of the people in the world who do get to make money up from nothing, and has facilitated money laundering and ponzi schemes in the past, tells you that something is a scam you should probably listen. Oh, and he's so confident it's a scam and is going to lose value, he's not going to short it since he reckons it could get to 20k a piece before it crashes.

As for damage done to BTC trading by NK actions, I'd humbly suggest that ICOs are doing far more to increase volatility and stability issues.