The FBI suspects hackers with links to North Korea have stolen the largest cryptocurrency. The perpetrators confiscated Ethereum worth USD 1.5 billion from Dubai-based companies.
The theft earlier this month targeting Bybit, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, is another theft involving a hacking team identified by the US government under the names TraderTraitor and Lazarus Group.
"The hackers stole cryptocurrencies through the deployment of modified cryptocurrency trading applications to include malware facilitating cryptocurrency theft," the FBI said.
The FBI believes North Korean-backed hackers are responsible for the theft.
The TraderTraitor has moved quickly and has turned some of the stolen assets into Bitcoins and other virtual assets spread across thousands of addresses across various blockchains, the FBI said in a statement.
"It is estimated that these assets will be further laundered and eventually converted into fiat currency," the FBI continued.
North Korean state media have not acknowledged the theft or the FBI's allegations.
Pyongyang's mission to the United Nations in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for response from The Associated Press.
However, North Korea is said to have stolen about $1.2 billion of cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets in the past five years, according to South Korean spy agencies.
The country is a rare and much-needed source of foreign currencies to support the country's fragile economy and fund its nuclear program amid the UN's strict sanctions and the close of North Korea's tight borders during the coronavirus pandemic.
A separate UN expert panel said it was investigating 58 alleged cyberattacks by North Korea between 2017 and 2023 that caused about $3 billion to be stolen to "reportedly help fund the development of weapons of mass destruction in the country."
Bybit co-founder and CEO, Ben Zhou, acknowledged the FBI's announcement in a post on social platform X by linking to a website offering a $140 million reward for tracking stolen cryptocurrencies and freezing them on other exchanges.
Bybit said the routine transfer of ethereum, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, from the so-called 'cold' or offline wallet was 'manipulated' by attackers who transferred crypto to unknown addresses.
Blockchain analysis firm Certi described the theft as the biggest "violence" in blockchain transaction history.
The theft has caused the overall crypto price to fall in recent days as some investors fear the hack even though the industry has come under push from US President Donald Trump's election.
Industry leader Bitcoin traded more than $82,000 per coin on Thursday, February 27, down from its highest level of more than 100,000 a month ago.
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