The company said hackers stole about 1.5 billion dollars in digital assets from Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit on Feb.19, marking the biggest cryptocurrency heist ever recorded.

The FBI warned that the assets will be laundered and eventually converted into currency.

“FBI refers to this specific North Korean malicious cyber activity as ‘TraderTraitor,’ the FBI said in a public announcement.

“Trader Traitor actors are proceeding rapidly and have converted some of the stolen assets to Bitcoin and other virtual assets dispersed across thousands of addresses on multiple block chains,” the agency said.

“It is expected these assets will be further laundered and eventually converted to fiat currency.”

Fiat currency refers to government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity such as gold.

Bybit has offered a bounty to those that help them recover the losses, setting up an online system to trace and freeze stolen funds.

Chief executive Ben Zhou said transparency was not just a principle, but “our most potent weapon” against cybercrime.

“We are taking a stand to ensure that every transaction is visible and every hacker is held accountable.

“Our multifive-pronged offensive is a clear message: if you steal, you will be found, and justice will be swift,” said Zhou. (dpa/NAN)

The White House denied access to an Associated Press photographer and three reporters from Reuters, HuffPost and Der Tagesspiegel, a German newspaper.

TV crews from ABC and Newsmax, along with correspondents from Axios, the Blaze, Bloomberg News and NPR were permitted to cover the event.

Earlier, the Trump administration had announced the White House would determine which media outlets would cover the president in smaller spaces such as the Oval Office.

The White House Correspondents’ Association has traditionally coordinated the rotation of the presidential press pool. Reuters, an international wire service, has participated in the pool for decades.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that while traditional media organisations would still be permitted to cover Trump on a day-to-day basis, the administration plans to change who participates in smaller spaces.

The pool system, administered by the WHCA, allowed selected television, radio, wire, print and photojournalists to cover events and share their reporting with the broader media.

The three wire services that have traditionally served as permanent members of the White House pool, are the AP, Bloomberg and Reuters,released on Thursday in a statement

The services “have long worked to ensure that accurate, fair and timely information about the presidency is communicated to a broad audience of all political persuasions, both in the United States and globally.

Much of the White House coverage people see in their local news outlets, wherever they are in the world, comes from the wires,” the statement from the three organisations said.

“It is essential in a democracy for the public to have access to news about their government from an independent, free press.”

Huffpost called the White House decision a violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of the press.

Der Tagesspiegel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier, the WHCA also issued a statement protesting the new White House policy.

The move follows the Trump administration’s decision to bar the Associated Press from being in the pool because it has declined to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, the name Trump has assigned the body of water, or update its widely followed stylebook to reflect such a change.

Leavitt said the five major cable and broadcast television networks would continue to hold their rotating seats in the pool while the White House would add streaming services.

Rotating print reporters and radio reporters would continue to be included, while new outlets and radio hosts would be added. (Reuters/NAN)