Bybit is suing North Korea, and it might actually work

The exchange filed a civil lawsuit in a US federal court against North Korea, its intelligence agency, and the Lazarus Group over the $1.5 billion hack of February 2025. A judge has already frozen stolen assets. The case tests whether civil law can do what criminal enforcement has not. Summary Bybit filed a civil lawsuit on August 7, 2026, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, naming North Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau intelligence agency, and the Lazarus Group as defendants over the $1.5 billion crypto theft of February 21, 2025, which remains the largest recorded cryptocurrency hack. A US federal judge issued a preliminary injunction freezing certain stolen assets held by unidentified individuals and entities listed as John Doe defendants, preventing them from transferring, selling, or otherwise disposing of the identified assets while the litigation continues. The FBI attributed the attack to North Korean actors operating under the name TraderTraitor shortly after the breach, and Bybit CEO Ben Zhou said the exchange had worked with investigators, regulators, other trading platforms, and law enforcement agencies since the attack. The traceability of st...