In the rapidly evolving crypto landscape, the Lazarus Group, a notorious hacking collective from North Korea, has been identified as the prime suspect behind the massive $1.4 billion Bybit hack. Investigations suggest that the same group is likely involved in recent Solana memecoin scams. Onchain investigator ZachXBT linked the group’s laundering activities to Solana’s Pump.fun platform, where several memecoin scams were executed.
The crypto industry was shaken on February 21st when Bybit reported losses exceeding $1.4 billion in digital assets, including liquid-staked Ether and Mantle Staked ETH. Blockchain security analysts, including Arkham Intelligence, have pointed fingers at the Lazarus Group for orchestrating the exploit.
On February 22nd, ZachXBT revealed that $1.08 million from the Bybit hack was transferred to a Solana-linked address, which subsequently dispersed the funds across multiple wallets tied to previous memecoin scams. He made public over 920 addresses connected to the hack and noted the recurring involvement of addresses associated with the Lazarus Group in previous fraudulent coin offerings.
Meanwhile, Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko expressed reservations about calls for an Ethereum network rollback to undo the hack’s consequences. Beiko highlighted the technical complexities and potential repercussions of reverting the network to its pre-hack state, emphasizing that such measures are not feasible for the uninformed observer.
In response to the breach, Bybit has unveiled a bounty program, offering up to $140 million to white hat hackers for the recovery of the stolen crypto assets. Bybit’s CEO, Ben Zhou, stated that the company is collaborating with authorities and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin to explore all possible options to reclaim the lost funds.
Amid efforts to trace the stolen assets, Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, announced the freezing of 181,000 USDT, attempting to curtail further laundering by the Lazarus Group, which continues to disperse funds across multiple wallets. The crypto community has shown considerable support for Bybit, with industry leaders vocal about the need for robust cybersecurity measures to protect digital assets and prevent such incidents in the future.
