The crypto exchange has announced that it has suffered a hack resulting in the loss of 400,000 Ethereum (ETH), equivalent to almost $1.5 billion. North Korean hackers Lazarus Group have been identified as being behind the hack.
Table of Contents
Bybit loses 400,000 ETH
The biggest hack in the history of the crypto market has probably just been recorded on February 21, 2025. Crypto exchange Bybit has announced that a hacker has taken control of the multi-signature cold wallet containing his Ethereum. The hacker then sent funds to unidentified addresses. As a result, 400,000 ETH and stETH were withdrawn from the cold wallet, Bybit exchange states in a press release. This equates to a record amount of around $1.5 billion stolen. That’s more than the $1.4 billion in funds crypto funds stolen in the whole of 2023.
Despite this enormous loss, the Bybit exchange is calling on its users to remain calm and serene. According to the CEO of Bybit, only the Ethereum cold wallet has been hacked. All other cold wallets are secure. In other news, Ben Zhou reassures us that the Bybit exchange has sufficient funds to continue operating. Not only do customer funds are secure but more importantly, they can be removed from the platform. The exchange is still active despite this major hack.
As expected, the announcement of the Bybit hack led to a wave of fund withdrawals. In the ten hours following the hack, over 350,000 fund withdrawal requests were registered by Bybit. This is an all-time record, reports the platform’s CEO. According to the same source, 99.9% of withdrawals have been processed.
Lazarus Group behind historic Bybit hack
With $1.5 billion stolen, the Bybit hack is now the biggest hack in crypto history. It comes well ahead of the Axie Infinity (625 million), Poly Network (611 million), Binance (570 million), Coincheck (547 million), Mt. Gox (473 million), Wormhole (325 million), DMM Bitcoin (305 million), Bitfinex (72 million) and The DAO (50 million).
So who’s behind this major crypto hack? After a meticulous analysis of the transactions and connected wallets used prior to the exploit, crypto detective ZachXBT has concluded that the person responsible for the Bybit hack is none other than Lazarus Group. This group of North Korean hackers is infamous in the crypto ecosystem.
Thanks to the Bybit hack, hackers from Lazarus Group have become the fourteenth largest ETH holder in the world. 0.42% of the total Ethereum (ETH) supply is under their control, which is more than Vitalik Buterin himself.
Ethereum hardfork to help Bybit recover its funds
Faced with the scale of the hack suffered by Bybit, voices are beginning to be raised calling on the Ethereum Foundation to take strong measures to enable the exchange to recover its funds. These include Arthur Hayes, former CEO of BitMEX. On X, he said to be favorable to a hardfork of the Ethereum blockchain to enable Bybit to recover its funds.
As a reminder, an Ethereum hardfork is an update to the protocol that introduces changes incompatible with previous versions. This would make it possible to modify the part of the hack and pretend it never happened. In 2016, a first Ethereum hardfork was already made to counter the DAO hackers who stole 3.6 million ETH.
Although it might enable Bybit to recover its 400,000 ETH, an Ethereum hardfork would be fraught with consequences. It would prove that Ethereum is hypercentralized and can falsify a transaction to suit its interests. This clearly goes against the spirit of the crypto ecosystem, which promotes freedom and responsibility.
The hack suffered by Bybit is surely a blow to the exchange. It will probably hamper compliance efforts and legality undertaken by the platform. The fact that users can access their funds, unlike FTX, is to be applauded. That’s probably why the crypto market hasn’t seen any major downturn despite this hack.
I dream of a world where every citizen has total control over themselves, including their finances. I believe that Bitcoin is one of the tools that will achieve this revolution. Since 2019, I am learning about this cryptocurrency and spreading the word around.
