FBI Hunts North Korean Hackers: Crypto Industry Urged to Help Recover $1.5 Billion

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has called upon the crypto industry to assist in tracking and blocking transactions aimed at laundering the $1.5 billion stolen from Bybit by North Korean hackers. In a public service announcement issued on Wednesday, the FBI published a list of Ethereum addresses that are currently holding or have held assets from the theft. The announcement also reiterated the involvement of North Korea and labeled the activity as TraderTraitor.

The hack, which occurred last week, has been attributed to the North Korea-linked Lazarus group by blockchain analytics firms. The stolen assets include ether and ETH staking tokens, making it the largest ever hack of a crypto exchange. The illicit actors are converting some of their stolen assets to bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, spreading them across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains. The FBI expects these assets to be laundered further and eventually converted to fiat currency.

In response to the hack, Bybit has declared a "war on Lazarus" and is crowdsourcing efforts to freeze the stolen funds. The exchange has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the stolen assets. The crypto industry is urged to collaborate with law enforcement agencies to track and block the laundering of these funds, as well as to enhance security measures to prevent future hacks.