The cryptocurrency industry faced a significant security breach when Bybit, the second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, lost approximately $1.5 billion in staked Ether and other ERC-20 coins. This hack is considered the largest in crypto history, eclipsing previous record breaches such as the $611 million Poly Network incident in 2021 and the $600 million Ronin bridge exploit in 2022.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic’s co-founder, Tom Robinson, remarked on the unprecedented scale of the theft. The investigation quickly pointed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, known for its involvement in major cyber and ransomware attacks, as the perpetrators behind the breach.
Bybit’s CEO, Ben Zhou, confirmed the breach, noting that the attacker had gained control of an ETH cold wallet and transferred its contents to an unknown address. Zhou assured stakeholders that despite the breach, withdrawals remain unaffected, and the exchange has secured loans to cover approximately 80% of the losses incurred.
The loss reverberated across the crypto market, with Ethereum’s value momentarily decreasing by 6.7% before stabilizing. Experts from Chainalysis and Halborn emphasized the growing sophistication of crypto attacks, attributing them to the vast amounts of value held in complex systems that may harbor vulnerabilities.
Meanwhile, Bybit continues to address security concerns, projecting confidence in its ability to cover client assets despite the incident. The breach highlights ongoing security challenges in the crypto sector as it strives for mainstream adoption.
