Major Crypto Exchange Bybit Hit by Massive $1.5 Billion Heist
Bybit, a Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange, has been targeted in what is now considered the largest crypto heist on record, with hackers making off with digital assets valued at over $1.5 billion. The incident has sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency community, raising serious concerns about the security of digital assets.
Reports indicate that the hackers exploited vulnerabilities in Bybit’s cold wallet, an offline system designed to securely store cryptocurrencies and their associated encryption keys. The primary target of the theft appears to have been Ethereum (ETH), the second most valuable cryptocurrency after Bitcoin.
Following the breach, the stolen tokens were transferred to numerous wallets and subsequently liquidated across various platforms, causing a ripple effect in the market. As a direct result of the hack, the value of Ethereum experienced a temporary dip, falling by approximately 4% to just over $2,641.41 per coin, according to reports from the BBC.
Fearing potential insolvency issues, users rushed to withdraw their crypto investments from the Bybit platform once news of the theft began to circulate.
Bybit Responds to the Attack
In response to the significant security breach, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou issued a statement assuring users that the exchange would reimburse those whose crypto funds were affected.
“Please rest assured that all other cold wallets are secure. […] All withdrawals are NORMAL,” Zhou wrote in a post on X.
Zhou further stated that Bybit is financially sound, even in the absence of recovering the stolen funds. He emphasized that all client assets are fully backed at a 1:1 ratio, indicating a capability to cover the substantial loss.
The company also announced that it has notified the appropriate authorities.
“We have fortunately worked quickly and extensively with on-chain analytics providers to identify and demix the implicated addresses. These actions will mitigate and counter the ability of bad actors in disposing and dumping the ETH on the markets via legitimate marketplace narrowing the available outlets of disposal,” the company added in a post on X.
The Alleged Perpetrators
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic suggests that the attack may be linked to the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking collective. This group has gained notoriety over the years for its sophisticated cyberattacks, which have yielded billions of dollars in stolen crypto funds.
The Lazarus Group is known for using advanced methods to obscure the flow of funds and launder the stolen assets, which are then allegedly used to fund North Korea’s regime. In 2017, the group was reportedly responsible for hacking four South Korean crypto exchanges, resulting in the theft of $200 million worth of Bitcoin.
The Ongoing Risk of Crypto Thefts
Despite the fluctuating nature of the cryptocurrency market, large-scale thefts remain a significant risk for digital assets. The Bybit heist surpasses previous high-profile thefts. In 2022, hackers made off with $620 million worth of Ethereum and USD Coin from the Ronin Network, followed by the theft of $570 million worth of Binance’s BNB token in 2021 and $41 million worth of Bitcoin from the Binance exchange in 2019.
