The FBI has launched a press release confirming that the Democratic Individuals’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) was answerable for the most important crypto hack ever that noticed $1.5 billion drained from the Bybit alternate earlier this month.
The assertion, issued by way of the FBI’s Web Crime Grievance Heart, begins, “The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is releasing this PSA to advise the Democratic Individuals’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) was answerable for the theft of roughly $1.5 billion USD in digital property from cryptocurrency alternate, Bybit, on or about February 21, 2025.
“FBI refers to this specific North Korean malicious cyber activity as “TraderTraitor.”
In response to the assertion, TraderTraitor actors have been quickly changing the stolen property to bitcoin and “other virtual assets,” by way of hundreds of addresses and a number of blockchains.
It provides that it expects these property to finally be transformed to fiat foreign money. It then goes on to listing a sequence of Ethereum addresses that the FBI says are holding property from the theft, and are operated by or related to TraderTraitor actors.
Because the February 21 hack, many crypto providers have been struggling to manage the laundering of prison proceeds with some claiming to have recovered funds.
Within the rapid aftermath, clients rushed to withdraw over $4 billion in deposits. However, Bybit was in a position to safe some loans and inside days claimed to have replenished liquidity to again buyer deposits on a 1:1 foundation.
