North Korea’s record $1.5 billion heist from the Dubai-based exchange Bybit has fueled an all-time high for global crypto crime, accounting for almost 70% of all virtual currency theft in the first half of this year, according to a U.S. blockchain analytics firm.

In its 2025 Crypto Crime Mid-year Update published Thursday, Chainalysis reported that the Bybit heist played a major role in spiking the amount stolen from cryptocurrency services worldwide to $2.17 billion between January and June.

Chainalysis highlighted the use of advanced social engineering tactics to infiltrate Bybit as a prominent feature in the heist, also identifying such