- BYBIT recently saw 1.5 billion dollars stolen during a routine transfer
- The FBI has now linked the Lazarus group to the theft
- The funds are currently being laundered to inhibit the tracking effort
Bybit Cryptocurrency -Theft, which saw nearly $ 1.5 billion in funds stolen, has now been attributed to the notorious North Korean Lazarus group of the FBI.
The Lazarus group is also traced as trader and APT38, and in a statement, the FBI said, ”Tradertraitor players continue quickly and have converted some of the stolen assets to Bitcoin and other virtual assets spread across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains. It is expected that these assets will be laundered and eventually converted to Fiat currency. “
The funds were part of a regular transfer of Ethereum Cryptocurrency between Bybit’s cold and hot wallet, but were redirected in transit to a Lazarus group controlled blockchain address that marked the largest cryptocurrency in history.
Greatest cryptot theft in the story
The FBI also listed several Ethereum addresses associated with the theft and requested that platforms handle the transfer of cryptocurrency to block transactions from the listed accounts.
BYBT has also invited someone with blockchain or cryptocurrency expertise to help track the stolen funds.
Zachxbt, a cryptocurrency and fraud examiner, observed the thieves that transferred some of the stolen crypto to an ethereum address previously used in several Lazarus group operations.
Numerous other organizations in the blockchain industry have observed several transfers between North Korean controlled addresses in an attempt to launder the funds and slow down the tracking effort.
The Lazarus group has been given a whole name for its cryptotory thefts, which is believed to be a revenue -generating method of the North Korean government.
North Korea does not reveal its GDP, but Estimates places the country’s nominal GDP in 2023 to USD $ 29.6 billion, which means theft would take about 5% of North Korea’s GDP in 2023.
