Changpeng Zhao Reveals: How North Korean Hackers Infiltrated Top Crypto Firms—Exclusive Insights

North Korean hackers just pulled off the crypto heist of the decade—and Changpeng Zhao is breaking it down.

Inside the breach: How Lazarus Group bypassed top-tier security

They didn’t smash through the front door. These operatives slipped through back channels—social engineering, zero-day exploits, and old-fashioned human error did the heavy lifting. No fancy tech required when complacency’s the real vulnerability.

The chilling precision: Every move calculated, every loophole exploited

From phishing top execs to manipulating internal protocols, the operation was lean, mean, and brutally efficient. Forget brute force—this was a masterclass in psychological warfare meets cyber-ops.

Wake-up call for crypto: If the big players can get hit, nobody’s safe

Zhao’s revelation isn’t just a story—it’s a warning. The industry’s been boasting about decentralization while building castles on sand. Maybe next time, spend less on marketing and more on opsec, folks?

Bottom line: In crypto, the only thing more volatile than the market is your security posture. North Korea’s hacking—meanwhile, your portfolio’s still down 60% from the last bull run. Priorities, right?

Changpeng Zhao spotlights Coinbase’s $400m loss?

In his last point, Changpeng Zhao mentioned an example of a case which involved a major India outsource service that leaked information from a major U.S. exchange that happened “just a few months ago.” The breach, he claimed, resulted in a loss of more than $400 million in user assets.

Although he does not explicitly name the exchange, another user with the X handle cryptobraveHQ surmised that Changpeng Zhao may be allegedly referring to Coinbase.

In May 2025, Coinbase fell victim to a large scale hack that involved customer services based in India who were successfully bribed by hackers into handing them unauthorized access to client data.

According to a previous report by crypto.news, the hackers got ahold of crucial personal information which included names, birth dates, addresses, nationalities, government identification numbers, banking information, and account information.

The breach resulted in high-profile victims getting targeted through the hack, such as Sequoia Capital Managing Partner Roelof Botha. Some Coinbase users received security alerts last weekend warning that their information may have been improperly accessed.

According to data from Chainalysis, as much as $2.17 billion have been stolen in crypto so far, with the Bybit hack leading the charge with $1.5 billion.