LONDON, February 24 (Reuters) – Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has reported that hackers stole digital tokens worth approximately $1.5 billion last week. Blockchain research firm Elliptic has called this incident the largest crypto heist ever recorded.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou stated the crypto was taken from a “cold wallet,” an offline digital storage solution designed for enhanced security. The stolen tokens were ether.
Elliptic’s analysis indicates the scope of this hack surpasses the previous record by more than double, making it “almost certainly the single largest known theft of any kind in all time.”
The cryptocurrency industry has faced persistent threats from hacking and theft, raising concerns about the security of user funds. Hacking losses have exceeded $2 billion in 2024, marking the fourth consecutive year where the total amount stolen passed $1 billion.
Several major thefts that predate the most recent one include:
-
POLY NETWORK: In August 2021, hackers stole around $610 million from Poly Network, a platform facilitating peer-to-peer token transactions. Nearly all of the stolen funds were later returned by the hackers. The hack exposed vulnerabilities in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.
-
RONIN NETWORK: In March 2022, hackers stole cryptocurrency worth around $540 million from a blockchain project connected to the popular online game Axie Infinity. The hackers took approximately 173,600 ether tokens and 25.5 million USD Coin tokens.
-
COINCHECK: In January 2018, hackers stole cryptocurrency worth roughly $530 million from the Tokyo-based exchange Coincheck. The thieves targeted one of Coincheck’s “hot wallets,” or online digital storage, drawing attention to the importance of exchange security measures. South Korea’s intelligence agency suggested a North Korean hacking group may have been responsible.
-
MT. GOX: Between 2011 and 2014, hackers stole bitcoin worth almost $500 million from Mt. Gox, a Tokyo-based exchange that was once the world’s largest. The hack led to Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy in early 2014, with around 24,000 users losing access to their funds.
-
WORMHOLE: The DeFi site Wormhole suffered a $320 million theft last month, with hackers gaining 120,000 digital tokens linked to ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency. Jump Trading, which acquired the developer behind Wormhole the year before, replaced the funds to help community members and enable Wormhole’s continued development.
