Bybit has filed a civil lawsuit against North Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau intelligence agency and the Lazarus Group over last year's $1.5 billion hack, and a US federal court has granted the exchange a preliminary injunction freezing stolen assets while the case proceeds.
Bybit, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, has filed a civil lawsuit against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau intelligence agency and the Lazarus Group. The DPRK-linked group is blamed for stealing $1.5 billion from the exchange last year. The suit names a group of unidentified holders of the stolen funds as John Doe defendants in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The injunction bars those defendants from transferring or selling the identified assets while litigation continues. Bybit added that it will seek further relief from the court as the case moves forward.
Ben Zhou, Bybit's co-founder and CEO, said the attack reached beyond the exchange itself: "It was an attack on trust in our industry." Bybit separately said the civil case is being pursued independently of ongoing criminal investigations conducted by U.S. law enforcement authorities.
The Lazarus Group allegedly carried out the theft on February 21, 2025, stealing more than 400,000 ETH and stETH worth approximately $1.5 billion from Dubai-based Bybit. Crypto Briefing called it the largest crypto theft on record.
That single hack made up the bulk of the $2.02 billion in crypto North Korea stole last year. The country's hackers have taken $6.75 billion in total, according to Chainalysis data. North Korea is widely believed to use its stolen crypto to fund its weapons program.
Sources: CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data, Crypto Briefing
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