ByBit, a major crypto trading platform, is turning to online bounty hunters to recover losses after hackers—believed to be North Korea’s Lazarus Group—stole $1.46 billion in what is thought to be the largest cryptocurrency theft in history.
In a bold move, ByBit is offering cash rewards to individuals who track stolen funds and prevent the hackers from cashing out. “Join us on war against Lazarus,” ByBit CEO Ben Zhou posted online, linking to a newly launched website featuring a live leaderboard of successful crypto sleuths. The site offers a 5% bounty to both individuals who help freeze stolen assets and to companies that take action.
The Lazarus Group is known for using sophisticated money laundering techniques, breaking funds into smaller transactions to obscure their origins. But since cryptocurrency transactions are publicly visible, bounty hunters can follow the money trail. The initiative is already paying out millions to successful investigators, with crypto firm Elliptic praising it as a “really positive innovation.”
However, not all crypto platforms are cooperating. ByBit’s website tracks exchanges that refuse to help, with one—eXch—reportedly allowing anonymous swaps of stolen funds. Investigators say at least $75 million from the ByBit hack has already passed through eXch, which has ignored calls to intervene.
Despite the bounty program’s success, experts warn the hack will damage trust in the already volatile crypto industry. Louise Abbott, a crypto fraud expert at Keystone Law, said, “If such a hack can occur on this scale in the world’s second-largest exchange, it can certainly happen again.”
ByBit plans to open its bounty system to other victims of North Korean cybercrime, intensifying global efforts to disrupt the Lazarus Group’s financial operations. The group has allegedly stolen around $6 billion in crypto to help North Korea bypass sanctions and fund military projects—something Pyongyang has never admitted.
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