Bybit Sues North Korea and Lazarus Group Under US RICO Law Over $1.5 Billion Hack

Bybit filed a lawsuit in a US federal court against the North Korean government and the Lazarus Group hacking group, invoking the US RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) law. Bybit says attackers compromised a Safe Wallet developer's computer in February 2025 and altered a routine internal transfer, stealing more than 400,000 ETH worth about $1.5 billion from the exchange's cold wallets. Bybit says it has recovered roughly $48.4 million of the stolen assets and frozen another $30.5 million across various exchanges. CEO Ben Zhou called the hack an attack on trust in the crypto industry in a statement. According to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, North Korean hackers stole about $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025, a 51 percent increase from the prior year.