Bybit CEO: Two-thirds of Lazarus-hacked funds remain traceable
Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou reported that over two-thirds of the $1.4 billion stolen in February by North Korea's Lazarus Group remains traceable. Specifically, 68.6% is traceable, 27.6% has gone dark, and 3.8% is frozen. The untraceable funds primarily moved through mixers to peer-to-peer and over-the-counter platforms. Zhou identified Wasabi as the main mixer used by the DPRK, with 944 Bitcoin (BTC) worth about $90 million processed through it. Additionally, 432,748 Ether (ETH), valued at approximately $1.21 billion, was converted into Bitcoin via THORChain, with around $960 million in BTC spread across 35,772 wallets. Bybit's Lazarus Bounty program has paid out $2.3 million to 12 bounty hunters, primarily to the Mantle platform, which helped freeze $42 million in funds. Zhou encouraged more reports to assist in tracing the funds. The eXch crypto exchange plans to cease operations on May 1 due to allegations of laundering Bybit hack funds.
