Bybit Hack: $1.4 Billion in Crypto Lost

Bybit Exchange Suffers Major Ethereum Theft

Bybit, a cryptocurrency exchange, disclosed on Friday that a highly advanced cyberattack resulted in the unauthorized removal of Ethereum (ETH) from a secure, offline wallet.

Details of the Breach

Ben Zhou, CEO and co-founder of Bybit, revealed during a live broadcast that approximately 401,346 ETH were stolen during the incident. The value of the stolen cryptocurrency at the time of the theft was roughly $1.4 billion.

Independent analysis from Elliptic, a leading crypto security firm, and ZachXBT, a prominent crypto security researcher, corroborates the $1.4 billion valuation of the stolen ETH. This positions the event as the largest known cryptocurrency theft in recorded history.

Historical Context

Previous significant crypto breaches include attacks on the Ronin Network and Poly Network. These incidents led to losses of $624 million and $611 million respectively, as documented by Rekt, a web3 and crypto breach tracking resource.

Tom Robinson, co-founder and chief scientist at Elliptic, suggested to TechCrunch that this incident “may even be the largest single theft of all time,” when considering all types of theft, not solely those within the digital realm.

Before this event, the largest reported financial theft was the alleged withdrawal of around $1 billion from the Central Bank of Iraq, as reported by World Finance.

How the Attack Occurred

According to Zhou’s statements on X, the attacker gained control of one of Bybit’s cold wallets – a type of digital wallet typically kept offline for enhanced security. Funds were then transferred to a connected, or “warm,” wallet.

A Bybit spokesperson, Tony Au, directed inquiries to Zhou’s public statements. Zhou assured users that the company remains financially stable and possesses the resources to cover the loss, even without full recovery of the stolen funds.

Bybit’s Financial Standing

Based on data from CoinMarketCap, Bybit, headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, held an estimated $16 billion in total assets as of the previous week.

Broader Trends in Crypto Theft

To illustrate the scale of this breach, consider that total cryptocurrency theft throughout all of 2024 amounted to approximately $2.2 billion, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

In 2023, estimates place the total value of stolen cryptocurrency around $2 billion.

Here's a summary of key facts: