North Korea's Lazarus Group Strikes Again: $1.4B Crypto Heist on Bybit

The crypto world is abuzz with controversy following a massive hack on Bybit, a popular cryptocurrency exchange, which resulted in the theft of approximately $1.4 billion on February 21. This unprecedented attack, which targeted Bybit's Ether multisig cold wallet, has been linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group, making it the largest crypto hack in history.

In the aftermath of the hack, North Korean hackers have begun laundering the stolen funds, with blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic tracking over $140 million in suspicious transactions. The attackers are primarily using decentralized exchanges and anonymous crypto services to cover their tracks before converting the stolen assets into Bitcoin, making it increasingly difficult for authorities to trace the funds.

The Bybit hack, which occurred on Friday, has now been confirmed as the largest crypto theft in history, with $1.46 billion stolen, primarily in Ethereum. This surpasses the 2021 Poly Network hack, which saw $611 million stolen. The attackers, linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group, swiftly spread the stolen ETH across 50 wallets, each containing around 10,000 ETH. Since then, the funds have been moved, swapped for Ethereum-based assets, and are now being converted into Bitcoin, further complicating tracking and recovery efforts.

Elliptic suggests that if the hackers follow their usual tactics, they might soon attempt to hide the stolen money using Bitcoin mixers, which make it harder to trace transactions. However, moving such a large amount of stolen crypto won't be easy. Blockchain experts and law enforcement are closely monitoring the situation, making it difficult for the hackers to cash out without getting caught.

Following the breach, Bybit users have rushed to withdraw their funds, fearing further security risks. According to Arkham Intelligence data, approximately 23,000 BTC ($1.7 billion) has been withdrawn from Bybit's hot wallets, reducing its Bitcoin reserves from 70,000 BTC to just over 52,000 BTC. In total, Bybit has seen over $6 billion in crypto outflows since the hack, raising concerns about the platform's liquidity.

Despite the panic, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou reassured users that the exchange remains solvent and that no customer funds were lost. More than 35