Foresight News report: Bybit announced that it has formally filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against North Korea (DPRK), its Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), and the Lazarus Group. The lawsuit seeks to hold the organization legally responsible for the large-scale cyberattack launched against Bybit in February 2025. Bybit has successfully obtained a preliminary injunction from the court, freezing identified stolen digital assets that are held or transferred by unidentified individuals and entities (i.e., the "John Doe" defendants). In granting the preliminary temporary restraining order, the court described the incident as "one of the largest cryptocurrency theft cases in history" and found that Bybit, on the merits of the case, "has a likelihood of prevailing." This civil lawsuit is independent of the criminal investigation by U.S. law enforcement agencies and is intended to provide an additional legal avenue to recover the assets.

In terms of asset recovery and global collaboration, Bybit has achieved significant results together with a blockchain analytics company, multiple exchanges, custodial institutions, and international law enforcement agencies. As of now, approximately $48.4 million in stolen assets have been successfully recovered, and about $30.5 million in involved assets have been frozen (spread across more than 28 exchanges and custodial institutions). These efforts have also supported broader enforcement actions aimed at dismantling key infrastructure allegedly used to launder stolen funds: German authorities have disrupted the cryptocurrency exchange eXch; the German and Swiss authorities subsequently worked together to dismantle the mixer platform Cryptomixer.io, cutting off a critical channel for transferring illicit proceeds. Taken together, these actions demonstrate the effectiveness of collaboration between the private sector and law enforcement agencies in combating transnational cybercrime.