Bybit sues North Korea over $1.5 billion hack, freezes stolen assets
Bybit has taken its fight against North Korean hackers into a U.S. courtroom, filing a civil lawsuit tied to the Bybit $1.5 billion hack that drained the exchange of hundreds of thousands of ether tokens earlier this year. The Dubai-based exchange, the world’s second-largest by trading volume, is now asking a federal court to hold the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and its state-linked hacking unit accountable for what investigators call the largest cryptocurrency heist ever recorded.
Key takeaways
- Bybit sued the DPRK, its Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) intelligence agency, and the Lazarus Group over the $1.5 billion hack.
- The theft happened on February 21, 2025, and involved more than 400,000 ETH and stETH taken from Bybit.
- A U.S. federal judge granted a preliminary injunction freezing stolen assets held by unnamed “John Doe” defendants.
- North Korean hackers stole $6.75 billion in crypto in total last year, according to Chainalysis, funds widely believed to support the country’s weapons program.
- The civil case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, runs separately from ongoing criminal investigations by U.S. law enforcement.
Bybit’s Lawsuit Against North Korea and Lazarus Group
Bybit has formally accused the DPRK, its Reconnaissance General Bureau intelligence agency, and the Lazarus Group of orchestrating the theft that stripped the exchange of $1.5 billion last year. The move marks one of the most direct legal confrontations a crypto exchange has launched against a state-linked hacking operation.
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