'Largest ever' cryptocurrency exchange hacking damage of 2 trillion won... Possible North Korea involvement

Bybit, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked and had around 2 trillion won worth of coins stolen.



This hack, considered the worst in history, has been suggested to be the work of a North Korean organization.



The image is unrelated to the article. [Photo = Pixabay]



According to Bloomberg News on the 21st (local time), Bybit, a cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked and $1.46 billion (approximately 2.1 trillion won) worth of coins were stolen.



Bybit CEO Ben Zhou announced on X (formerly Twitter) that day, "Hackers stole one of Bybit's offline Ethereum wallets."



Blockchain analyst ZachXBT explained that $1.46 billion worth of assets were leaked from the wallet through suspicious transactions.



This hack is considered the largest cryptocurrency hack in history, surpassing the Mt. Gox ($470 million) incident in 2014 and the Poly Network ($611 million) incident in 2021.



Founded in 2018, Bybit is one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges with an average daily trading volume of more than $36 billion (about 51.786 trillion won). Headquartered in Dubai, Bybit had assets of about $16.2 billion before the hack. The stolen Ethereum represents about 9% of its total assets.



According to blockchain analytics firm Nansen, the funds hacked from Bybit that day consisted of Ethereum and Ethereum derivatives. The coins were first transferred to one wallet and then distributed to more than 40 wallets. In addition, all derivatives were converted to Ethereum and then transferred to more than 10 additional wallets at $27 million each, Nansen explained.



Arkham Intelligence stated that it has evidence that JackxBT was the work of the North Korean hacking group Lazarus. Blockchain security firm Fireblocks, which is assisting Bybit's investigation, also said, "This hack is similar to the attacks on Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX and lending protocol Radiant Capital that occurred last year," adding, "Both incidents were carried out by North Korea."



North Korean hackers are believed to have been behind the theft of $234.9 million from WazirX and $50 million from Radiant Capital. North Korea is suspected of hacking cryptocurrency exchanges and other exchanges in recent years to steal cryptocurrencies, launder them for cash, and use them for nuclear weapons development.





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