Bybit Sues North Korea, Nears $80M Recovery From $1.5B Hack

Bybit took the February 2025 theft of $1.5 billion in crypto to a U.S. courtroom, filing a civil lawsuit against North Korea and the Lazarus Group. The complaint landed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and names the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau, the Lazarus Group, and unidentified individuals or entities holding or moving the stolen money as John Doe defendants, Bybit said in a press statement.

The same court granted a preliminary injunction that freezes the portion of the stolen funds investigators can still reach. The exchange said the judge found it “demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits” and cited the theft as “one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in history” when issuing a temporary restraining order in June.

Bybit has recovered roughly $48.4 million of the looted assets, and about $30.5 million more has been frozen across more than 28 exchanges and custodians pending further action. That brings the combined recovery close to $79 million – still a small fraction of the $1.5 billion haul.

In its June 18 court filing, Bybit disclosed that 90.2% of the stolen assets had already gone dark, moved through mixers, cross-chain bridges, and over-the-counter dealers. Only 9.8% remained traceable to identifiable wallets. Bybit’s CEO Ben Zhou said a year earlier that close to 69% of the funds were still trackable, but the window has been closing fast.