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- Bybit has launched a $140 million bounty program to hint the billions stolen in final weekend’s hack
- Hackers drained $1.5 billion from Bybit’s chilly wallets, the largest non-money heist of all time
- Blockchain analysts suspect the North Korean-linked Lazarus Neighborhood is accountable for the assault
In the wake of 1 in all the largest crypto heists in historical previous, Bybit has presented the starting up of a $140 million ‘Lazarus Bounty’, an initiative aimed at tracking and recuperating stolen funds. The pass follows a $1.5 billion breach of Bybit’s chilly wallet on February 21, which resulted in the unauthorized transfer of over 401,000 Ether. Cybersecurity experts, alongside side Arkham Intelligence and Elliptic, possess linked the assault to the Lazarus Neighborhood, a notorious North Korean-backed cybercrime syndicate identified for concentrated on cryptocurrency exchanges. Bybit’s bounty program seeks to mobilize the crypto neighborhood to video display hacker job and aid in recuperating misappropriated resources.
A Neighborhood-Led Hunt for Cybercriminals
Bybit’s ‘Lazarus Bounty’ is an industry-first initiative that lets in users to observe hacker movements and document suspicious transactions. Asserting the program, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou urged the neighborhood to grab section:
Be half of us on battle in opposition to Lazarus – https://t.co/6DnaH1WTId
Replace first bounty position that presentations aggregated chunky transparency on the sanctioned Lazarus money laundering actions. V1 involves:
– Turning into a bounty hunter by connecting your wallet and aid tracing the fund, when…— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) February 25, 2025
The platform, which became developed in precisely two days, provides precise-time tracking of blockchain addresses linked to the hack, with the bounty offering a 5% reward for any individual who helps freeze or safe better the stolen funds.
Lazarus’ Most Fearless Hack But
The Lazarus Neighborhood, backed by North Korea’s intelligence products and services, has been accountable for a few of the largest cryptocurrency heists in historical previous. The organization has previously stolen over $3 billion in crypto, funneling funds to pork up North Korea’s weapons capabilities. Their attacks veritably exploit security weaknesses in DeFi platforms and centralized exchanges, the usage of refined laundering ways to vague the stolen resources’ scurry.
Bybit’s aggressive counteroffensive represents a well-known shift in how crypto exchanges answer to such threats; reasonably than relying completely on legislation enforcement, the platform is empowering its users to play an brisk role in tracing and freezing stolen funds. Whether this model proves effective stays to be considered, but it marks a turning level in the industry’s struggle in opposition to natty-scale crypto theft.
In his message, Zhao reassured the neighborhood that every client resources remain stable and 1:1 backed, reassuring users that “Bybit is solvent even supposing this hack loss will not be recovered.”
