Bybit Hack: $280M Vanished, $1B Split Across 7,000 Wallets

Bybit Hack Update: $280M Vanished, $1B Scattered Across 7,000 Wallets

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: March 04, 2025

Key Takeaways

Bybit is tracking 77% of the stolen $1.4 billion, but $280 million has been laundered and is untraceable;
Hackers converted $1B of stolen Ethereum into Bitcoin, spreading it across nearly 7,000 wallets;
Investigators are racing to freeze more funds before hackers cash out through exchanges, OTC platforms, and P2P transactions.

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Bybit $3.71B is still tracking most of the $1.4 billion stolen in a February 21 hack, but CEO Ben Zhou revealed that $280 million has completely disappeared.

While investigators are monitoring roughly 77% of the stolen assets, the remaining 20% has been successfully laundered, which makes further tracing impossible. Another 3%, or $42 million, has already been frozen.

On March 4, Zhou shared an update on X on the stolen 500,000 Ethereum ETH $4,109.21 and ongoing efforts to prevent hackers from accessing the funds. He pointed out that a large amount of the stolen crypto has been moved through laundering services or platforms designed to hide transactions.

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Investigators discovered that the hackers converted approximately $1 billion of the stolen Ethereum into Bitcoin BTC $115,071.83 and distributed it across nearly 7,000 wallets, each holding an average of 1.71 BTC. This method makes tracing and recovering the assets even more challenging.

Zhou warned that the next couple of weeks are crucial in stopping further withdrawals. Hackers are likely to use crypto exchanges, OTC platforms, and P2P transactions to cash out before more of their funds can be frozen.

Further analysis shows that THORChain RUNE $0.8838 was the primary platform used to convert the stolen Ether and Bitcoin, though some of the funds also passed through ExCH and OKX $3.07B Web3 Proxy. Bybit believes that about $65 million in Ethereum can still be recovered if the OKX Wallet team steps in to assist.

On February 26, Bybit launched a bounty program called the Lazarus Bounty to help recover stolen funds. What did Zhou say about it? Read the full story.