FBI Blames North Korea for $1.5 Billion Bybit Crypto Heist, Largest in History

The FBI has accused North Korean-linked hackers of carrying out one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts, stealing approximately $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum from a Dubai-based firm.

The theft, which occurred earlier this month and targeted Bybit, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, is the latest in a series of incidents involving a team of hackers identified by the U.S. government as TraderTraitor and the Lazarus Group.

The hackers steal cryptocurrency “through the dissemination of cryptocurrency trading applications that were modified to include malware that facilitates theft of cryptocurrency,” the FBI has said.

In an online public service announcement late Wednesday, the FBI stated that it believes the North Korean-backed hackers were “responsible for the theft.”

“TraderTraitor actors are proceeding rapidly and have converted some of the stolen assets to Bitcoin and other virtual assets dispersed across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains,” the FBI said in its announcement. “It is expected these assets will be further laundered and eventually converted to fiat currency.”