Virtual Currency Worth 2 Trillion Won Vanishes Instantly... Once World's 2nd Largest Exchange Hacked

The Worst Hacking Case in Virtual Asset History
Evidence Points to North Korean Hacking Group "Lazarus"

Bybit, one of the world's largest virtual asset exchanges, suffered a hacking incident involving assets worth around 2 trillion won. The hacking is believed to have been carried out by a North Korean hacking group.

On the 21st (local time), foreign media including Bloomberg reported that the virtual asset exchange Bybit was hacked, resulting in the theft of $1.46 billion (approximately 2.1 trillion won) worth of coins. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou stated on the social networking service X (formerly Twitter) that "hackers stole one of Bybit's offline Ethereum wallets." Blockchain data tracking platform Arkham Intelligence reported that the stolen virtual assets were moved to multiple accounts and then sold.

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Founded in Dubai in 2018, Bybit is one of the world's largest virtual asset exchanges with an average daily trading volume exceeding $36 billion (approximately 51.786 trillion won). The platform, which has ranked second worldwide in terms of trading volume, held about $16.2 billion in assets before the hack. The stolen Ethereum accounts for about 9% of the total assets. This hacking incident is the largest virtual asset hacking case to date, surpassing the 2014 Mt. Gox incident ($470 million) and the 2021 Poly Network incident ($611 million).

Arkham Intelligence stated that blockchain analyst ZachXBT provided evidence that the hacking was carried out by the North Korean hacking group Lazarus. Additionally, blockchain security firm Fireblocks, which is assisting Bybit's investigation, said, "This hacking is similar to last year's attacks on Indian virtual asset exchange WazirX and lending protocol Radiant Capital," adding, "Both incidents were carried out by North Korea."

North Korea has been suspected in recent years of stealing virtual assets through hacking, laundering them into cash, and using the funds for nuclear weapons development. Last month, South Korea, the United States, and Japan issued a joint statement officially identifying North Korea as responsible for a $660 million (approximately 960 billion won) virtual asset theft that occurred last year.

Meanwhile, following the news of the large-scale hacking, virtual asset prices fell across the board.

According to virtual asset exchange Coinbase, at 3:45 p.m. Eastern Time on the same day, the price of one Bitcoin was trading at $96,116, down 2.42% from 24 hours earlier. Bitcoin prices briefly fell below $95,000 that day. Ethereum dropped 3.04% to $2,660, and XRP (Ripple) fell 4.62% to $2.57.