Bybit has filed a civil lawsuit in a U.S. court against North Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau and the Lazarus hacking group over the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency from the exchange last year, seeking to hold those it accuses of orchestrating the attack accountable and recover the stolen assets
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where Bybit also obtained a preliminary injunction restricting the transfer or disposal of certain assets connected to the case while the legal proceedings continue. The move gives the exchange a legal mechanism to pursue assets associated with the attack and prevent their further movement during the litigation
Bybit Chief Executive Officer Ben Zhou said the exchange’s objectives include protecting customers, recovering as much of the stolen cryptocurrency as possible and pursuing those responsible for the breach. The attack had significant repercussions for confidence in Bybit and raised broader concerns across the cryptocurrency industry about the security of major digital-asset platforms
The February 2025 incident resulted in the theft of about $1.5 billion worth of Ether from Bybit and was attributed to the Lazarus Group, a hacking organization associated with North Korea. The scale of the attack made it one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts ever recorded and intensified scrutiny of security practices across the digital-asset sector
The civil lawsuit is separate from an ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by U.S. law enforcement authorities. Bybit’s legal action therefore represents a parallel effort to pursue accountability and potentially recover assets independently of the criminal proceedings
The case could also have wider implications for the cryptocurrency industry, particularly as exchanges increasingly turn to courts, asset-freezing measures and cooperation with authorities following major cyberattacks. The outcome could influence how digital-asset platforms respond to large-scale hacks and pursue the recovery of stolen funds across international jurisdictions
