North Korean hackers behind supersized heist

North Korea's Lazarus Group is suspected of stealing $1.46 billion in cryptocurrency from Dubai-based exchange Bybit, according to new research from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.

Why it matters: The heist sets a new record for crypto thefts, underscoring North Korea's growing sophistication in stealing digital assets to fund its regime.

By the numbers: The Bybit theft more than doubles the previous record of $611 million set by the August 2021 hack of Poly Network.

• In that case, most of the stolen funds were eventually returned by the hacker.

Catch up quick: Bybit said last week that hackers had drained nearly $1.5 billion from its ether cold wallet.

• The exchange said operations remained unaffected and customer funds weren't affected.
• But the sheer scale and tactics of the attack remain notable — cold wallets are typically considered a safer storage option since they're offline and harder to breach.

The big picture: Even compared to traditional bank heists, Bybit's theft is unprecedented.

• Elliptic called it "almost certainly the single largest known theft of any kind in all time."
• That record was previously held by Saddam Hussein, who stole $1 billion from the Iraqi Central Bank on the eve of the 2003 Iraq War.