OKX Catches Crypto Regulators’ Eye Following Bybit Hack

European cryptocurrency regulators are reportedly examining the OKX exchange following a record heist.

Last month, the trading platform Bybit was the victim of a $1.5 billion theft, believed to be the largest in industry history.

The issue was discussed last week by regulators at a meeting of the European Securities and Markets Authority’s Digital Finance Standing Committee, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday (March 11), citing sources familiar with the matter.

As that report noted, OKX is subject to the EU’s new Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA) regulations. Sources say watchdogs are focusing on OKX’s Web3 service, which offers crypto traders access to a range of exchanges and blockchains.

Regulators want to determine whether Web3 platform is covered by MiCA, and if so, what penalties OKX could face, the sources said.

PYMNTS has contacted OKX for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.

Bybit has said that the hackers — believed to have ties to North Korea — laundered roughly $100 million of crypto they stole through the Web3 platform.

The company — which is offering a bounty to whoever helps identify the hackers — said the thieves were able to transfer these holdings to an unidentified address after accessing one of Bybit’s ethereum cold wallets when it was carrying out a transfer to one of its warm wallets.

Bybit said days after the hack that it had replenished its reserve, holding a fresh audit and restoring its reserve to a 1:1 ratio within 72 hours.

As covered here days later, the incident illustrates that as the blockchain ecosystem grows, security challenges become more complex, as this attack was likely the “largest incident ever, not just crypto.”

In other crypto news, PYMNTS wrote about the impact of the White House’s recent crypto summit, noting that while President Donald Trump’s administration made verbal commitments to fostering a more crypto-friendly environment, some investors and industry players still came away feeling uncertain.

Market reactions were mixed, with bitcoin and publicly traded crypto companies seeing immediate price fluctuations.

“One thing is certain though: The conversation has changed,” PYMNTS wrote. “Crypto is no longer an outsider in the halls of power. The fact that major players from the private and public sectors came together in a formal setting highlights how far crypto has come from its early, renegade days.”