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Hackers believed to be from North Korea have stolen around $1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrencies in what has been called the biggest crypto heist of all time.
Ben Zhou, the CEO of the Dubai-based Bybit, said the crypto was taken from a 'cold wallet' - a digital wallet usually stored offline and so supposedly more secure - that was used for ether tokens.
The firm, which says it has more than 60million users across the world, said no other wallets were affected and that withdrawals appeared to be proceeding normally.
The Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking collective that has been run by the country since 2010, is believed to be behind the attack.
Western businesses have been terrorised by the group for more than a decade now.
With this most recent attack the hackers have already stolen more than they did in the whole of 2024 when they took around $1.4billion in digital coins.
Blockchain research firm Elliptic said the hack was more than double the last-biggest crypto heist and 'is almost certainly the single largest known theft of any kind in all time.'
Pyongyang is increasingly using cyber attacks to wage economic warfare rather than to conduct espionage.
Rafe Pilling, of the cyber security company Secureworks, told the Daily Telegraph: 'North Korea started using cyber attacks for espionage, stealing R&D and intellectual property.
'Subsequently, they have really capitalised on it as a source of revenue.'
The crypto industry has suffered a series of thefts, prompting questions about the security of customer funds, with hacking hauls totalling more than $2 billion in 2024 - the fourth straight year where proceeds have topped more than $1 billion.
In August 2021, Hackers stole around $610 million from Poly Network, a platform that facilitates peer-to-peer token transactions. The hackers behind the heist later returned nearly all of the stolen funds.
The hack underscored vulnerabilities in the burgeoning decentralised finance - DeFi - sector, where users lend, borrow and save in digital tokens, bypassing the traditional gatekeepers of finance such as banks and exchanges.
It is not known how the hack happened. Cold wallets are considered safer than online 'hot' wallets, and Bybit's cold Ethereum wallet required several people to sign off on transfers, according to the Financial Times.
While the company is investigating the hack with the help of its security team and forensic experts, masses of people are pulling their assets from the platform.
Zhou said in a post on X: 'Since the hack, Bybit has experienced the most number of withdraws that we have ever seen, We have had a total number of more than 350k withdraws requests, so far, around 2100 withdraw requests left to be processed.
'Overall 99. 994% withdraws have been completed. If your withdraws are completed, please leave a comments here.
'Although we have been hit by the worst hack possibly in the history of any medians (banks, crypto, finance), all Bybit functions and product remain functional, the Whole team had been awake all night to process and answer client questions and concerns. ALL hands on DECK. rest assured, we are here with you.'
Bybit said its security team, along with forensic experts, was investigating the incident, adding: 'We have reported the case to the appropriate authorities.'
The firm said: 'All client funds are safe, and our operations continue as usual without any disruption.
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