# North Korea Rejects U.S. Attribution of $1.5 Billion Bybit Theft

By Simon Yoon

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/technology/47293
Published: 2026-11-03T04:28:17.000Z
Updated: 2026-11-03T04:28:17.000Z
Section: Technology

> The denial appeared in a statement about a separate Binance theft, which also questioned who would receive recovered stolen funds.

North Korea’s government rejected the U.S. attribution of the Feb. 21, 2025, Bybit theft, which was valued at about $1.5 billion. In a statement denying involvement in a separate Binance theft, it accused the United States of portraying cybercrime around the world as North Korean activity and called the Bybit attribution a serious political provocation.

The statement also referred to a U.S. announcement last year to confiscate illegally stolen crypto assets for a national strategic reserve. It asked who would receive large stolen funds if they were recovered.

The FBI and multiple on-chain analytics organizations attributed the Bybit theft to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, also known as TraderTraitor.