FBI Accuses North Korean Hackers of Bybit ETH Theft, Urges Industry Crackdown

The FBI has attributed a massive hack on Dubai-based Bybit to North Korean hackers following the theft of nearly $1.5 billion in Ethereum from an offline cold wallet. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou revealed that the assailant manipulated smart contract logic to seize control of the ETH wallet, transferring all funds to an unidentified address. In a coordinated move, the FBI released a list of 51 Ethereum wallet addresses linked to the TraderTraitor activity, urging exchanges, RPC node operators, blockchain analytics firms, and DeFi service providers to block any transactions emanating from these addresses. The breach, cited as the largest crypto hack to date, has added to an already volatile market environment where Bitcoin saw a notable drop to around $84,900 and other altcoins exhibited mixed price movements. Several crypto firms, including Tron (non-stablecoin) and Chainalysis, have pledged to support law enforcement in tracking and freezing the laundered assets. While a detailed forensic report is pending, the incident has underscored vulnerabilities in current security protocols and raised concerns about regulatory responses and investor confidence in the crypto market.