The Biggest Hack in History, Markets Nuke, and More!

How did the Bybit hack happen? An expert says it was preventable. Plus, when will crypto recover?

March 01, 2025

North Korean hackers just pulled off the biggest heist in crypto history — and quite possibly all history. Here’s how they get into systems and why they bide their time before striking.

$1.5 billion gone in an instant. And what’s worse, to fund a nuclear weapons program.

The largest crypto hack in history just hit Bybit, and the culprit is the infamous North Korean hacking group, Lazarus. Known for some of the most sophisticated cyber heists ever, they often use social engineering tactics and start by tricking low level employees. Although they can often wait to launder funds, in the case of Bybit they started right away.

How did this happen? Could it have been prevented? And what does this mean for the security of the entire crypto industry?

Taylor Monahan, security at MetaMask, and Jonty, a senior investigator at zeroShadow, talk all about it.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

North Korea’s Lazarus Group pulled off its biggest heist yet, stealing $1.5 billion from Bybit in what has turned out to be an entirely preventable hack. Security expert Mudit Gupta explains why.

Crypto derivatives exchange Bybit just became the latest victim of North Korea’s elite hacking unit, the Lazarus Group. They didn’t brute-force their way in. They didn’t exploit some obscure vulnerability. Instead, they tricked a trusted developer, slipped in malicious code, and took off with a fortune.

How did this happen? Why was $1.5 billion sitting in a single wallet? What mistakes did Bybit and Safe make? And, more importantly, what needs to change to stop this from happening again?

This week, Mudit Gupta, chief information security officer at Polygon, joins Unchained to expose the security failures, the sophisticated tactics Lazarus used, and why crypto still hasn’t learned its lesson.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

After the Bybit hack, Solana’s crash, and an overall market slump, where does crypto go from here?

Crypto markets are down bad—but is this just a rough patch, or are we looking at something bigger?

After a brutal sell-off in Solana, the $1.5 billion Bybit hack, and macro uncertainty weighing on Bitcoin, investors are searching for answers. Some think the worst is over, while others believe more pain is coming before the market turns around.

In this episode of Bits + Bips, Noelle Acheson, Alex Kruger, and Ram Ahluwalia are joined by Eliézer Ndinga of 21Shares to break it all down. They discuss how institutions are approaching this downturn, why Solana has been hit harder than the rest, and what catalysts could bring crypto back to life.

Is this the start of a new accumulation phase, or are we in for another leg down?

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Grifters, Hacks, and Celebrity Scams: Hayden Davis’ Memecoin Hustle, Bybit’s Lazarus Heist, and Portnoy’s Rugging

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner break down the biggest stories in crypto. This week: Bybit’s $1.5B hack, likely by North Korea’s Lazarus Group, and the Libra scandal, where Hayden Davis exposes the memecoin playbook. Meanwhile, Dave Portnoy rugs Greed and Greed 2, Kanye’s YZY token leaks, and the LA Vape Cabal collapses. But crypto markets hold strong, and the SEC just dropped its lawsuit against Coinbase. Is this the end of the memecoin era? We break it all down.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

In Case You Missed It 👀

Here are some articles you will probably want to read:

Despite some positive signals from DC, Bitcoin is falling with the rest of the market. Here’s what three experts say it will take to switch the momentum.

A group of lawyers made the case to re-interpret how securities laws apply to crypto before the SEC Crypto Task Force on Monday.

Bybit happened to publish a proof of reserves the day before the $1.5 billion hack by North Korea. But the incomplete snapshot of the exchange’s finances lays bare why they don’t serve customers when disaster strikes.

If You Like Unchained: