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With not all information public, Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analysis firm, has concluded that North Korea’s Lazarus group was responsible for the $1.46 billion hack on the Bybit exchange. On platform X, Arkham offered a bounty of 50,000 ARKM tokens, worth around $30,000, for anyone who could identify the attackers responsible for Friday’s hack. Not long after, Arkham announced that freelancer ZachXBT had provided “definite proof” that the North Korean hacking group was behind the hack. According to current information, Lazarus, North Korea’s elite state-sponsored hacking group, pulled off the largest hack in history on a centralized crypto exchange. The hack resulted in the withdrawal of Ethereum tokens amounting to around $1.5 billion. Ethereum security researchers are scrambling to investigate the incident to understand how the attack happened and whether the hack may spread to other exchanges. Within days, crypto enthusiast ZachXBT identified the Lazarus group as the likely culprit. Lazarus has been responsible for many of the top attacks on digital assets. Blockchain firm Nansen revealed that the attackers first withdrew the funds into a single wallet and then distributed them to multiple wallets. “Initially, the stolen funds were transferred to a primary wallet, which then distributed them across more than 40 wallets”, Nansen said. “The attackers converted all stETH, cmETH, and mETH to ETH before systematically transferring ETH in $27 million increments to over 10 additional wallets”. Ben Zhou, Bybit CEO, urged customers to remain calm and assured them that 80% of funds were recovered by using bridge loans to replace the stolen money. Despite the current bank run on Bybit, Zhou assured users that withdrawals would not be blocked and that customers would have access to their funds. Leveraging bridge loans allows Zhou to honour withdrawal requests. At this stage, the return of stolen tokens is highly unlikely. ZachXBT has yet to release all data pointing to the Lazarus group. He says his analysis involved tracking online connections between wallet addresses until, with the assistance of a colleague, he was able to narrow down the suspects to the North Korean hacking group. ZachXBT found a connection between the wallets used in the Bybit hack and the wallets used in the $85 million hack of Singapore-based exchange Phemex. At this stage, at least, the attack appears to be caused by Blind Signing, in which the smart contact is approved without complete knowledge of its contents. “This attack vector is quickly becoming the favorite form of cyber attack used by advanced threat actors, including North Korea”, said Blockaid’s CEO Ido Ben Natan. “It’s the same type of attack that was used in the Radiant Capital breach and the WazirX incident.” “The problem is that even with the best key management solutions, today most of the signing process is delegated to software interfaces that interact with dApps.” “This creates a critical vulnerability- it opens the door for malicious manipulation of the signing process, which is exactly what happened in this attack,” he said. The stolen funds are unlikely to be returned because North Korea does not have an extradition agreement with the United States. The North Korean hacking group was able to attain more money in this single hack than in all of its hacks last year. This hack contrasts with other previous large-scale attacks, such as the 2016 Bitfinex hack, in that the people behind this attack will likely get away with it and will most likely keep the stolen money. This shows that the American justice system is limited to countries with extradition agreements. Although America focuses on retrieving lost funds through tax, there’s not much they can do about large-scale hacks. Tom Robinson, Elliptic’s chief scientist, described the attack as the “largest crypto theft of all time.” “The next largest crypto theft would be the $611 million stolen from Poly Network in 2021. In fact it may even be the largest single theft of all time”. Bybit appears to be processing withdrawals just fine after their hack,” wrote Coinbase executive Conor Grogan. They have $20B+ in assets on the platform, and their cold wallets are untouched. “Given the isolated nature of the signing hack and how well capitalized Bybit is, I don’t expect there to be contagion.” “A minute into the FTX bankrun it was clear they had no funds to withdraw. I know everyone has PTSD but Bybit is not an FTX situation, if it was I would be screaming it out. They will be fine”. The Lazarus group’s history can be traced back to 2017 when they hacked South Korean exchanges and stole over $200 million in Bitcoin. Crypto bank robberies seem to be here to stay and will need to be a major focus within the crypto industry.

Argentine President Javier Milei, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, proposed a free US-Argentina trade deal, saying he agrees with Trump’s reciprocity agenda. He argued that Argentina is willing to have a mutual free trade deal with the United States, saying its only hindrance is its membership ties to Mercosur, the South American trade bloc. He commented: “I want to take this chance to announce that Argentina wants to be the first country in the world to join this reciprocal accord that the Trump administration proposed on trade matters.” – Javier Milei Argentina’s Milei endorsed Trump’s reciprocal tariff plans Javier Milei met with Donald Trump on the sidelines of the CPAC conference and showed support for the billionaire’s reciprocal tariff plans, which many other countries have seemingly criticized. According to the Argentine government, the two also spoke about the economic measures Milei is advancing in his country and how crucial it is for both countries to collaborate with each other. Moreover, during his speech at the conference, the Argentine president repeatedly endorsed some of Trump’s strategies while bashing what he called “a political class with a God complex.” He also promised to work together with countries that share his vision of freedom and want to root out state bureaucracy, seeing Trump as one of his ideological allies. Aside from Trump, Milei also met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and even handed him a chainsaw, his government’s symbol of ending state bureaucracy. He also talked with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva about an IMF loan, which he believes could help grow his country’s economy. Milei is still under investigation for marketing a suspicious meme token While the Argentine leader is seemingly showing more interest in his relationship with the US, he is facing corruption allegations and is currently under investigation for promoting a rather speculative crypto coin. Just after its launch, Milei posted about the LIBRA meme coin on X on the grounds that he wanted to support growing businesses and startups. His post quickly encouraged a price surge for the token, bringing its market valuation to over $4 billion. However, as traders started to withdraw their assets, the token collapsed, with analysts saying the coin showed all the signs of a rug pull. The LIBRA crypto scandal is now locally known as “cryptogate”, with a few influential characters involved, including a 28-year-old American entrepreneur who helped launch First Lady Melania Trump’s meme coin. Meanwhile, the libertarian president distanced himself from the crypto project soon after its dip, even deleting his initial X post, but he did ask the Justice Ministry’s Anti-Corruption Office to investigate the case. Milei and five more others, however, are currently under probe for creating and marketing the token and possible crimes of fraud, abuse of authority, and bribes. Cryptopolitan Academy: How to Write a Web3 Resume That Lands Interviews - FREE Cheat Sheet

Ross Ulbricht, the newly pardoned Silk Road founder, has spoken out in support of early Bitcoin supporter Roger Ver, who finds himself in legal trouble in the United States these days. Ulbricht used X to make an appeal for Ver’s freedom, saying, “Roger Ver was there for me when I was down and needed help. Now Roger needs our help.” He went on to say, “No one should spend the rest of their life in prison over taxes.” Ver, also known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” was arrested in Spain in April 2024 on a U.S. Department of Justice request. The DOJ has charged him with various tax crimes, including mail fraud, tax evasion, and submitting false tax returns. Prosecutors say Ver underestimated the worth of his Bitcoin assets when he filed his “exit tax” in 2014 prior to giving up his U.S. citizenship. Authorities allege he owes about $48 million in back taxes. The Ver case is based on accusations that he notably underreported selling tens of thousands of bitcoins in 2017. The DOJ says those Bitcoins were attributed to his U.S.-based companies, MemoryDealers and Agilestar. Even after renouncing his U.S. citizenship, American prosecutors say Ver was nonetheless obligated to report and pay taxes on dividends from these companies. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California earlier said that Ver didn’t accurately value these companies and their assets in preparing his exit tax. Ver was released on bail of €150,000 (about $157,000) after his arrest in Spain but is under house arrest awaiting a decision on extradition. If convicted, he could face up to 109 years in prison. His lawyers from Steptoe LLP and Kimura London & White have prepared a motion asking the court to dismiss the action that it amounts to “unconstitutional overreach” and politically motivated because of Ver’s strong advocacy of cryptocurrencies. Ver’s legal struggles have prompted the start of the “Free Roger” campaign, following the previous “Free Ross” movement calling for the freedom of Ulbricht. But the campaign has had a divided reaction. Many considered Ulbricht’s two life sentences when he filed for an appeal, but others see Ver’s case differently. Previously, even billionaire Elon Musk advocated for Ver’s release, as mentioned in our blog post. This is not Ver’s initial legal conflict. He was sentenced in 2002 to ten months of federal time for selling and storing fireworks in an unauthorized way without a permit. Following release, he resided in Japan and then attained St. Kitts and Nevis citizenship in 2014. Ver’s defense team contends that the IRS has crossed boundaries, referring to an episode in 2018 when tax agents supposedly interrogated his attorney and former MemoryDealers employees without a warrant. His supporters say that he attempted to be in line with tax laws but the IRS charged him with a misinterpretation of the law. As speculation mounts over possible presidential pardons, the betting markets have predicted a 10% likelihood of Ver being granted clemency by Trump within his first 100 days in office, according to Polymarket.

A Brazilian citizen appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle following extradition from Switzerland to face $290 million Bitcoin investment fraud charges. According to the press release from the US Department of Justice, Douver T. Braga pleaded not guilty to a 13-count indictment involving wire fraud and conspiracy related to the Trade Coin Club (TCC) scheme. Braga, 48, operated TCC from 2016 to 2021, primarily while residing in Florida. The platform, purportedly based in Belize, attracted over 126,000 members across 231 countries by promising returns through Bitcoin ( BTC ) trading software. However, investigators found no evidence of any trading platform or software existing. The indictment reveals that investors entrusted more than 82,000 Bitcoin, valued at over $290 million during the investment period, to TCC. Braga allegedly misappropriated these funds, transferring at least $50 million in Bitcoin to accounts under his control between December 2016 and July 2019. Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller characterized the operation as a traditional Ponzi scheme, where early investors were paid using deposits from newer participants. Braga promoted TCC globally, conducting presentations in Thailand, Nigeria, and Macau throughout 2017. The scheme began surfacing in late 2017 when investors reported difficulties accessing their funds. By January 2018, TCC announced its cessation of U.S. operations and canceled user accounts, affecting several investors in Washington state. Federal investigators shared details of major tax evasion, with Braga allegedly failing to report substantial cryptocurrency earnings: The defendant faces 12 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, each carrying a maximum 20-year prison sentence if proven guilty. This case joins a growing list of major cryptocurrency fraud prosecutions. In December 2024, Argentine authorities seized a $3.5 million USDT wallet connected to the Rainbowex trading Ponzi scheme. They also froze additional crypto wallets and bank accounts of suspected participants. In October 2024, disbarred California attorney David Kagel, 86, received five years of probation and was ordered to pay $13.94 million in restitution for operating a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of approximately $15 million. The series of prosecutions shows law enforcement’s increasing focus on cryptocurrency fraud across international jurisdictions. The agencies are also collaborating and using various methods to track and seize the crypto involved in these financial crimes.

SafeMoon CTO pleads guilty to $200M crypto fraud Thomas Smith, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of U.S. blockchain company SafeMoon, has pleaded guilty to participating in a $200 million cryptocurrency fraud, as reported by Cointelegraph. He admitted to two charges in a case highlighted by extensive fraudulent activities, according to U.S. prosecutors. In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) jointly filed charges against Smith, along with SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony and founder Kyle Nagy. These charges include conspiracies related to securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.