Morning Edition · Sunday, August 9, 2026Published at 2:30 AM EDT · New York

Bybit Wins a US Court Freeze on Assets From the $1.5 Billion Theft It Attributes to North Korea

A federal judge found the exchange likely to succeed on the merits and barred unnamed holders from moving the identified funds, testing whether a civil judgment can reach assets on a ledger no court controls.

Bybit has sued the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), its Reconnaissance General Bureau and the Lazarus Group in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia over the February 2025 theft of about $1.5 billion fro…