Bybit sues North Korea over $1.5B Lazarus hack

Bybit has sued North Korea, its intelligence agency and the Lazarus Group in a U.S. federal court as the exchange seeks to recover assets stolen in the record $1.5 billion crypto hack. Summary Bybit filed its case against North Korea, the RGB and Lazarus Group in Washington, D.C. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction freezing certain stolen assets held by unidentified defendants. The FBI previously attributed the $1.5 billion February 2025 attack to North Korean actors. Bybit said the civil case remains separate from ongoing U.S. criminal investigations. Bybit takes Lazarus Group to US court Bybit filed the civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, naming the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau intelligence agency and the Lazarus Group as defendants. The case concerns the Feb. 21, 2025, breach that drained more than 400,000 Ether (ETH) and staked Ether from the Dubai-based exchange. The assets were valued at about $1.5 billion at the time, making the incident the largest recorded cryptocurrency theft. The FBI attributed the attack to North Korea shortly after the breach. U.S. authorities track the actors in...