The FBI referred to the attack as “TraderTraitor,” a malicious campaign linked to North Korean state-sponsored hackers the Lazarus Group.

North Korea’s $1.4 billion attack on Bybit saw crypto lost to hacks, scams and exploits rise to over $1.52 billion in February, says CertiK.

The FBI has accused the North Korean Lazarus Group of being behind the largest cryptocurrency theft in history.

As news started spreading about a massive hack on crypto exchange Bybit last Friday, cybersecurity researchers quickly concluded that the era of giant digital-asset heists had entered a new and potentially ruinous phase.

North Korean hackers took just two minutes to make off with $1.5bn (£1.2bn) in cryptocurrency, cyber security researchers believe, in the single biggest heist in history.

While North Korea is well-known for cyber attacks, their latest hack is officially the biggest heist in history with $1.5 billion in stolen funds.

Bybit clients withdrew almost $4 billion within two days of the attack; the company recovered just 3% of the total of the stolen crypto assets