Bybit Hack: 600 Million Dollars In Crypto Already Laundered!

Crypto has just experienced its heist of the century. On February 21, Bybit, one of the giants of centralized exchanges, was siphoned off 1.4 billion dollars. But the real shock lies elsewhere: in just one week, hackers have already laundered 605 million dollars worth of Ether. Unprecedented. Behind this feat, a feared actor: the Lazarus group, the armed wing of North Korea. An unexpected tool at the heart of the scandal: THORChain, the interchain protocol adored by degens.

THORChain, Trojan horse despite itself

THORChain has not stolen its reputation. With its KYC-free interchain exchanges, the protocol embodies the decentralized ideal. But today, it is suffocating under criticism. Bybit hackers have used its liquidity pools to spread 270,000 ETH — or 54% of the loot. Result: a record volume of 1 billion dollars in 48 hours, and a burning question. Has privacy become public enemy number 1?

The protocol has attempted to react. Three validators voted to block transactions linked to Lazarus.

Too late, one of the key developers threw in the towel. “I will no longer contribute,” he said on X, disgusted. A symbolic departure, revealing a fracture: can we reconcile privacy and the fight against organized crime?

Worse, founder John-Paul Thorbjornsen dodges the issue. “No sanctioned address has interacted with THORChain,” he claims. A weak argument in the face of the evidence: hackers exploited the speed of the protocol, faster than the detection tools. THORChain is not guilty, but complicit by naivety.

North Korea vs. FBI: The shadow war plays out in crypto

The Lazarus group is no longer hiding. With Bybit, Pyongyang signs its biggest job since the hacking of the South Korean Space Agency. But this time, the stakes are global. The FBI is stepping up: “Cut ties with Lazarus!”. Impossible mission? Crypto transactions, by nature transnational, defy borders.

The North Korean strategy is formidable. By laundering through THORChain, Lazarus proves its mastery of technical and psychological flaws.

Who would suspect an open-source protocol of serving to launder money from an authoritarian regime? Yet, the numbers speak: 605 million dollars evaporated in seven days. A record that ridicules traditional anti-money laundering “solutions”.

But the real bomb lies elsewhere. TCB, a validator of THORChain, threatens to withdraw if the protocol does not block North Korean flows. An ultimatum that summarizes the clash of cultures: can DeFi survive if it must obey state orders? The FBI demands censorship. Purists scream heresy. In the meantime, hackers laugh despite the collapse of bitcoin.