bybit

Ether Price Spikes Further on Reports of Bybit Starting to Buy ETH

Published

1 month ago

February 22, 2025

The price of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, ether (ETH), has risen by more than 2.3% in the last 24 hours, while the broader CoinDesk 20 Index has risen by just 0.76% during the same period. Bitcoin is down around 0.3%.

The rise comes amid reports that Bybit, the cryptocurrency exchange that was hacked for $1.5 billion worth of ether and staked ether by North Korean hacking group Lazarus, has moved 100 million USDT into new addresses and moved half of that into addresses to purchase 36,900 ETH over-the-counter.

The funds, worth around $101 million, were then moved to addresses tagged as belonging to the cryptocurrency exchange, crypto journalist Colin Wu reported, citing, Arkham Intelligence data.

Bybit’s CEO Ben Zhou reportedly said in an “ask me anything” session that the company’s assets are “far greater than $1.5 billion,” adding that “there is a cold wallet in safe with nearly 3 billion US dollars in USDT,” according to the same source.

Bybit’s hacker is now holdings an estimated 489,000 ETH valued at approximately $1.34 billion, around 0.4% of ether’s total supply, which makes it the 14th-largest holder of the cryptocurrency.

The addresses associated with the hacker are now closely monitored in the space and are blacklisted by major cryptocurrency exchanges.

“The stolen funds have already been marked, making it extremely difficult for the hacker to use them. Any attempt to transfer these funds to a major exchange would result in an immediate block,” StealthEX CEO Maria Carola told CoinDesk.

Since the hacker may not be able to use the funds in any way, some analysts are suggesting that the 0.4% of the ETH supply it holds is “essentially gone.”

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Unwanted Windfall? THORChain Sees Record $4.6B Volume After Bybit’s $1.4B Hack

Published

4 weeks ago

March 4, 2025

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THORChain, a decentralized protocol enabling users to swap cryptocurrencies across various blockchains, has seen what can be described as an unwanted windfall after the Bybit hack.

The protocol processed $4.66 billion in swaps in the week ended March 2, the highest tally on record, according to data source DefiLlama. The tally exceeded the $1 billion mark on Sunday alone.

The surge in activity follows the hack of the crypto exchange Bybit on Feb. 22, which saw the North Korean malicious entity walk away with $1.4 billion in ether. Per observers, the entity used THORChain to swap and launder funds, resulting in a record activity on the platform.

“Starting from the initial Bybit Exploiter wallet, funds were sent across a further stretching net of wallets. With each ‘hop’ further from the main wallet, there was an increasing amount of intermediary wallets and the value transfers became smaller and smaller,” blockchain analytics firm Nansen said in a report shared with CoinDesk.

“From hop 2, the hacker started interacting with third-party entities to start swapping and laundering the funds. Entities with the most inflow volume from the hack include THORChain, Paraswap, Mantle, OK DEX and DODO,” Nansen added.

CoinDesk reached out to THORChain for a comment on the matter.

Per onchain analyst EmberCN, hackers have laundered the entire ETH balance in ten days, generating record revenue for THORChain.

“Hackers have laundered all 499,000 ETH ($1.39 billion) stolen from Bybit, a process that took 10 days. The ETH price has fallen by 23% in the process (from $2,780 to $2,130 today). THORChain, the main channel used by hackers to launder money, also earned $5.9 billion in transaction volume and $5.5 million in handling fees due to hackers’ money laundering,” EmberCN said on X.

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Bybit hacker launders over 50% of stolen Ethereum in 7 days

Published

4 weeks ago

February 28, 2025

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The hacker behind the $1.4 billion Bybit exploit has already laundered more than 50% of the stolen Ethereum, primarily using THORChain to swap ETH for Bitcoin.

According to blockchain analytics firm Spot On Chain’s Feb. 28 post on X, the attacker has laundered 266,309 Ethereum (ETH), about $614 million, in the past 5 days at an average rate of 48,420 ETH per day. If this pace continues, the remaining 233,086 ETH could be fully laundered within another five days.

The hacker’s money-laundering rampage has caused a record-breaking spike in THORChain (RUNE) activity. crypto.news reported on Feb. 27 that daily transaction volumes increased dramatically from an average of $80 million to $580 million per day starting on Feb. 22.

In just five days, the total transaction volume reached $2.91 billion, with THORChain earning $3 million in fees from the increased usage. Feb. 26 alone saw a record-breaking $859.61 million in swaps, followed by an additional $210 million on Feb. 27, pushing the two-day total past $1 billion.

In a Feb. 26 statement, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation officially linked North Korean hackers to the heist. According to the FBI, the Bybit hack, known as “TraderTraitor,” is part of a wider series of cyberattacks attributed to North Korean state-sponsored hackers.

Meanwhile, forensic investigations by Sygnia Labs and Verichain confirmed that Bybit’s security infrastructure remained intact despite the breach. A detailed post-mortem of the hack revealed that the vulnerability was linked to a Safe Wallet developer machine that had been compromised.

The attackers exploited this machine to insert malicious JavaScript code into the Gnosis Safe UI, specifically targeting Bybit’s cold wallet. Safe has affirmed that its smart contracts are safe, but the incident shows that hackers are increasingly focusing on infrastructure providers rather than exchanges themselves.

Bybit has launched a website to track the laundering of its stolen funds and is offering a bounty to exchanges that assist in recovering the assets.

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Bybit Ethereum (ETH) Reserves Steadily Recovering Following Massive Hack, According to CryptoQuant

Published

1 month ago

February 24, 2025

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Market intelligence platform CryptoQuant says that the Ethereum (ETH) reserves of Bybit are recuperating after the crypto exchange was hacked to the tune of $1.4 billion.

In a new thread on the social media platform X, Julio Moreno – CryptoQuant’s head of research – says that Bybit is seeing inflows worth over $390 million in ETH.

“Bybit’s ETH reserves are slowly recovering. The exchange has experienced positive net flows of 139,000 ETH since the hack.”

Gkb7jjYW4AA7qyP — Source: Julio Moreno/X

Previous reports indicate that the Singapore-based exchange suffered the biggest exploit in the digital assets industry when a bad actor took control of its ETH cold wallet, which stores keys offline.

According to recent data from the blockchain tracker Lookonchain, Bybit’s rapid recovery of ETH is being aided by other digital asset firms as well as crypto whales.

“Since being hacked, Bybit has received 145,879 ETH ($390 million) in loans and deposits. Whales withdrew 47,800 ETH ($127.56 million) from Binance to Bybit as loans.

Bitget transferred 40,000 ETH ($106 million) to Bybit as loans. Whale ‘0x3275’ transferred 20,000 ETH ($53.7 million) to Bybit as loans.

[The crypto exchange] MEXC transferred 12,652 stETH ($33.74 million) to Bybit as loans.

Whale ‘0xd7CF’” bought 15,427 ETH ($42.2 million) from CEXs (centralized exchanges) and DEXs (decentralized exchanges), then deposited it to Bybit.

A wallet suspected to be Fenbushi Capital deposited 10,000 ETH ($27 million) to Bybit.”

Furthermore, Lookonchain finds that Bybit itself purchased $197 million ETH via over-the-counter transactions.

Ethereum is trading for $2,808 at time of writing, a 1.5% increase during the last 24 hours.

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