Bybit Wages 'War' on North Korean Hackers After $1.4 Billion Ethereum Theft

Dubai-based centralized exchange Bybit is wasting no time in attempting to hamper hackers who nabbed $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum and related tokens last week, offering up to $140 million in bounties over the weekend to those helping to trace or freeze the funds. 

On Tuesday, the exchange went a step further, launching a bounty dashboard and website allowing users to submit leads about the stolen funds—and keep track of what it deemed as “good” and “bad” industry actors in the process. 

“In today’s blockchain landscape, transparency isn’t just a principle—it’s our most potent weapon against cybercrime,” said Bybit CEO Ben Zhou in a statement. “We are taking a stand to ensure that every transaction is visible and every hacker is held accountable… if you steal, you will be found, and justice will be swift.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Zhou said the firm was waging “war” against the Lazarus Group, the North Korean hacking collective that on-chain analysts have pegged for the crime.

The first version of the Lazarus Bounty website provides an accounting for the more than $1.4 billion in hacked funds, and showcases in greater detail the steps taken by platforms and protocols in response. So far, just over 3% or $42 million worth of stolen funds have been frozen by exchanges and platforms that assets were moved onto.

The platform is utilizing a merit-based bounty reward leaderboard and consulting with a security alliance built with chief security officers from major public chains. 

Thus far, most reported actors are acting in the interest of Bybit and the hacked funds, including what the firm deemed as “good” reports from stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle.

On Monday, Bybit announced it had closed the gap of the more than 400,000 stolen ETH through a combination of loans, deposits, and purchases. 

The Bybit hack is the latest connected to North Korean hacking groups, which accounted for more than $1.3 billion in hacks in 2024 and $660 million in 2023, according to a report from Chainalysis. 

The platform is among the largest centralized exchanges, generating more than 26 million visits monthly according to data from CoinGecko. The exchange processed more than $6 billion in trading volume in the last 24 hours.

Edited by Andrew Hayward