Bybit CEO Ben Zhou has revealed that nearly 28% of the $1.4 billion stolen in the February hack has become untraceable. The funds were laundered through mixers, cross-chain bridges, and peer-to-peer platforms, making recovery efforts more challenging. Despite this, approximately 68.6% of the stolen assets remain traceable, and 3.8% have been frozen. Bybit continues to collaborate with blockchain forensic experts to track and recover the stolen funds.
Nearly $1.2 Billion Still Traceable
In February, Bybit was hacked, and nearly $1.4 billion worth of funds were stolen in what is now the biggest cryptocurrency hack in history. CEO Ben Zhou said that the crypto exchange can still track 68.6%, or nearly $1.2 billion, of stolen funds. Nevertheless, coin mixers and other similar tools have immobilized 27.6% of the assets, while 3.8% have already been frozen by law enforcement authorities.
The hackers used various platforms to launder the stolen money. They seem to have been quite dependent on Wasabi Mixer at the outset, but then later sent parts of the assets to other services like CryptoMixer, Tornado Cash, and Railgun. Thereafter, the funds had several cross-chain and swap uses, including THORChain, Stargate, and SunSwap, which then went to peer-to-peer (P2P) and over-the-counter (OTC) trading.
A large part of the stolen assets—432,748 ETH, worth nearly $1.21 billion—was swapped for Bitcoin and spread out across tens of thousands of wallets. More than 12,000 wallets have approximately $17 million worth of Ether still on the Ethereum blockchain.
Launching the Lazarus Bounty Program
To get back the stolen assets, Bybit started the Lazarus Bounty program, where it set up a reward pool of $140 million to help freeze or recover the funds. To date, the business has given $2.3 million to 12 contractors. A significant achievement occurred when Mantle’s layer-2 platform assisted in freezing $42 million in stolen assets, Bybit reported.
Zhou stated there’s a need for more assistance. We’re actively scouting for skilled bounty hunters who can dismantle these mixers. There’s a lot of work ahead,” he said. Bybit may not be able to recover the money entirely, but it will try to recover as much as possible. The laundering process is quite complex.
Related Developments
In another development, eXch, a website said to be used to clean the stolen money, plans to close its shop by May 1. This step could make it harder to get the money back while the sleuths try to secure what’s left quickly.
Conclusion
Bybit stays determined to recover stolen funds even as investigations continue. The exchange has a bounty program and partnerships with blockchain analytics firms, so, since the hack is huge, I hope we recover a part of the assets.
Through this message, Zhou keeps mentioning how everyone needs to help each other against cybercrime: “With the right expertise and determination, we believe justice—and the funds—can still be recovered.”
Currently, everyone is watching how Bybit and its partners will go forward to map out the blockchain transactions in the complex puzzle to pursue accountability. The incident emphasizes the ongoing war between hackers and the crypto community. It also brings to light the importance of global cooperation and security to avoid more hacks.
