The CEO of Bybit, Ben Zhou, revealed that the full quantity of funds stolen from the hacker assault is 1.4 billion {dollars} (roughly 500K ETH). Of those, 77% needs to be traceable, 20% not, and three% has been frozen.
Bybit: the funds stolen by hackers quantity to 1.4 billion {dollars} and solely 77% remains to be traceable
The CEO of Bybit, Ben Zhou, described in a his publish on X that the full quantity of funds stolen by hackers is 1.4 billion {dollars} (the equal of about 500,000 ETH).
At this second, such a sum of the violated funds appears to be distributed as follows: 77% remains to be traceable, 20% has disappeared, and three% has been frozen.
Not solely that, the publish states that 83% of the full, which is strictly 417,348 ETH – roughly 1 billion {dollars}, has already been transformed into Bitcoin (BTC), utilizing 6,954 wallets.
Zhou states that the hacker primarily used the THORChain blockchain to liquidate ETH into BTC. Particularly, 361,255 ETH (or 900 million {dollars}), equal to 72%, went via Thor. This quantity will be traced.
Quite the opposite, 79,655 ETH, which is 16% of the funds, have as a substitute been obscured via the moment crypto-exchange ExCH, from which new updates are awaited.
Lastly, 40,233 ETH or 100 million {dollars}, equal to eight% of the full, have as a substitute handed via the OKX web3 proxy. And right here too, 16,680 ETH are traceable, 23,553 ETH or 65 million {dollars} will not be traceable and knowledge is requested from OKX web3.
In any case, Zhou additionally states that there’s robust assist within the seek for the stolen funds.
In actual fact, for the time being there are 11 “bounty hunters” who’ve helped the crypto-exchange freeze a part of its stolen funds, receiving in return a reward of two,178,797 USDT.
ByBit and the state of affairs of the stolen funds: the biggest crypto theft in historical past
It was February 21, 2025, when the crypto-exchange Bybit turned a sufferer of an unprecedented cyber assault, which resulted within the theft of the present 1.4 billion {dollars} in ETH.
Behind this state of affairs, it appears there’s the involvement of the Lazarus group, identified for its cybercrime operations linked to North Korea.
Particularly, the hackers allegedly focused the chilly pockets of Bybit, designed to guard the crypto-exchange’s offline funds.
The hackers have been in a position to deceive the approved personnel, acquiring the required signatures to switch 1.4 billion {dollars} in ETH.
The hit exploited refined phishing assaults and romantic scams that led the crypto-exchange workers to signal fraudulent transactions.
Cash laundering
This episode has then additionally moved the authorities, comparable to the FBI that requested the actors within the crypto sector to cooperate to dam cash laundering via the blockchain.
The FBI has particularly requested exchanges, blockchain builders, analysts, and different gamers for his or her assist to determine and block the stolen funds earlier than they’re utterly laundered.
But, in response to different analyses, the hackers nonetheless managed to launder 605 million {dollars} in Ethereum, greater than half of the full loot. The laundering would have occurred via advanced on-chain operations, elevating questions in regards to the safety of CEX (centralized exchanges).
Among the many most used strategies to launder ETH with out being recognized are the mixer Twister Money, fractional transactions, and cross-chain swapping.