The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on Wednesday that North Korea is behind the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in virtual assets from the crypto exchange ByBit. This news has hit the crypto world like a bombshell, underlining the ongoing threat of state-sponsored cybercrime.
The FBI has given this North Korean cyber operation the codename “TraderTraitor”. In an official statement, the agency said:
“The criminals of TraderTraitor operate at lightning speed. They have already converted a portion of the stolen assets into bitcoins and other virtual currencies, spread across thousands of addresses on different blockchains.”
According to the FBI, this is just the beginning of a process in which the funds will be further laundered, with the ultimate goal of converting them into fiat money.
ByBit, an exchange with more than 60 million users worldwide, reported last Friday that an attacker had gained control of one of their Ether wallets. The stolen assets were then transferred to an unknown address. The exchange, known for its wide range of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether, is the latest victim of a large-scale hack.
This announcement from the FBI comes at a time when the crypto market is already under pressure. The perpetrators’ swift action to distribute and convert the loot makes recovering the stolen funds a significant challenge. For ByBit and its users, this is a hard blow, but it also raises broader questions about the security of centralized platforms in a time when cyber attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
North Korea’s involvement in crypto thefts is no longer a surprise, but the scale of this operation underscores how significant the threat remains. How this develops will have to be seen in the coming time – both for ByBit and for the entire sector.
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