FBI seeks crypto industry help to track, block laundering of Bybit hack funds

What to know

• The FBI asked for crypto industry help in tracking and blocking transactions intended to launder the $1.5 billion stolen from Bybit by North Korean hackers.

• The law-enforcement agency referred this particular North Korean cyber activity as "TraderTraitor."

• The FBI published a list of Ethereum addresses that are holding or have held assets from the theft.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) asked for crypto industry help in tracking and blocking transactions intended to launder the $1.5 billion stolen from Bybit by North Korean hackers.

The FBI published a list of Ethereum addresses that are holding or have held assets from the theft in a public service announcement on Wednesday. The announcement reiterated the country's involvement and labeled it a TraderTraitor activity.

The hack had already been attributed to the North Korea-linked Lazarus group by blockchain analytics firms. The ether and ETH staking tokens were stolen in the largest ever hack of a crypto exchange last week.

The illicit actors are converting some of their stolen assets to bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies "across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains," the PSA said. The FBI said it expects the assets to be laundered further and eventually converted to fiat currency.