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Bybit sues North Korea over $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency theft
Сryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has filed a civil lawsuit against North Korea, its intelligence agency, and the Pyongyang-linked hacker group Lazarus.
The lawsuit concerns the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in digital assets, CoinDesk reports, citing a statement from the exchange.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court for the District of Columbia. It names North Korea, the country's Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), Lazarus, and as-yet-unidentified individuals and entities as defendants.
Bybit also obtained a preliminary injunction preventing the owners of some of the identified stolen assets from transferring or selling them until the trial is completed, the publication notes.
According to Bybit, Lazarus withdrew over 400,000 ETH and stETH from the exchange on February 21, 2025, valued at approximately $1.5 billion at the time. This attack is considered the largest cryptocurrency theft in history.
Bybit cited its legal action as a desire to recover the stolen assets and hold the perpetrators of the attack accountable. The civil proceedings are being conducted independently of the criminal investigations by US law enforcement agencies.
In February 2025, the FBI officially blamed North Korea for the Bybit hack. According to the bureau, the attackers converted part of the stolen funds into Bitcoin and other digital assets, then distributed them among thousands of addresses across several blockchains.