Bybit has filed a lawsuit against North Korea over the theft of $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency
The cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has filed a civil lawsuit against North Korea, its General Bureau of Reconnaissance, and the Lazarus hacking group over the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in February 2025.
The lawsuit was filed under the U.S. RICO Act, which applies to cases involving organized crime. The exchange is seeking the return of the stolen assets, compensation for damages, penalties, and the seizure of crypto wallets linked to the theft.
The court has already ordered a temporary freeze on some of the assets and acknowledged that Bybit has a strong chance of success in the case. As part of the investigation, German authorities shut down the eXch crypto exchange, and Germany and Switzerland shut down Cryptomixer.io, a service used to launder the stolen funds.
So far, $48.4 million has been recovered, while another $30.5 million remains frozen. At the same time, about 90% of the stolen assets have already passed through crypto mixers and blockchain bridges, which makes tracking them significantly more difficult.
Source: Bybit.
The hackers who stole approximately $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency from the Bybit cryptocurrency exchange have transferred nearly all of the stolen funds and converted them into Bitcoin, which, according to experts, is the first stage of a money-laundering operation.
Belarus has officially blocked access to the cryptocurrency exchanges Bitget, Bybit, and OKX; their websites have been added to the registry of blocked resources. This decision is part of a crackdown on the country’s online space.
