Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit said last week hackers had stolen digital tokens worth around $1.5 billion, in what researchers called the biggest crypto heist of all time.

According to Bybit's holdings, that amounts to $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency that was stolen from Bybit and its customers, making this the largest ever cryptocurrency theft. However, as Molly White of Web3IsGoingGreat points out, the hacker can't exactly cash out $1.5 billion in Ethereum, because an amount that high would crash the value of ETH.

Cybersecurity researchers quickly concluded that the era of giant digital-asset heists had entered a new and potentially ruinous phase following the theft.

Bybit has already paid more than $4 million to bounty hunters who helped trace and freeze some of the stolen funds.

One of the largest publicly-known thefts of cryptocurrency was conducted by North Korean hackers, according to the FBI, who stole $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum from a popular crypto exchange.

North Korea is behind the massive crypto hack, according to several blockchain monitoring firms and a well-known researcher