Cryptocurrency buyers should be prepared for more and bigger threats after North Korea’s recent robbery of close to $1.5 billion of cryptocurrency from crypto exchange Bybit. That’s just one of the implications of a study appearing in the February 2025 issue of the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

After exchange operator loses ether from a cold wallet in a North Korea-linked attack, bitcoin and ether fall as industry enthusiasm wanes.

Following the revelation Friday from cryptocurrency exchange firm Bybit that hackers stole digital tokens worth about $1.5 billion – in what may be the biggest crypto heist of all time – CEO Ben Zhou wrote on X Sunday that it has replenished its reserves. Bybit was able to do this through a mix of emergency loans and large deposits.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value, broke below $90,000 to its lowest since November 18, falling by as much as 7.5% at one point. It was last down 5% on the day at $89,314.