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Bybit seeks to freeze assets tied to alleged $1.5B North Korea hack

The exchange says it has recovered $48.4 million and frozen about $30.5 million across more than 28 exchanges and custodians, roughly 5% of the reported theft.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Market Structure

Crypto exchange Bybit has filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. federal court against North Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau, and the Lazarus Group over a February 2025 theft valued at $1.5 billion, according to Decrypt.

Bybit said a judge granted a preliminary injunction that freezes identified stolen assets by barring the transfer or dissipation of the funds while the case proceeds, and the court found Bybit likely to succeed on the merits, the outlet reported.

Bybit also said it has recovered $48.4 million and frozen about $30.5 million across more than 28 exchanges and custodians, a combined amount it characterized as approximately 5% of what was taken.

The exchange said attackers drained roughly 500,000 ETH from a Bybit cold wallet in February 2025, and it reported earlier that some 69% of the proceeds remained traceable, 28% had gone dark, and 4% had been frozen as of April, with much of the stolen Ethereum reportedly converted to Bitcoin and moved through services including Thorchain and mixers.

Latest closeBitcoin $65,069.46 ▲0.3%|Ethereum $1,918.50 ▲0.5%

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