Today, the cryptocurrency sector witnessed significant events. Bybit, a major cryptocurrency exchange, suffered a massive hack, resulting in the loss of over $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether, Mantle Staked ETH, and other ERC-20 tokens. This incident has been attributed to the notorious North Korean hacking group, Lazarus Group. Despite this setback, Bybit’s independent audits have confirmed that the exchange still holds reserves exceeding its liabilities, ensuring user funds are fully backed.
Bybit’s overall asset value has dropped by more than $5.3 billion since the February 21st hack. In response, Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou reassured customers through a livestream, stating that while there are around 4,000 withdrawal requests pending due to network congestion, withdrawals remain active. He guaranteed that the exchange is securing a bridge loan to maintain operations and confirmed that no other wallets were compromised during the security breach.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded its investigation into the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea. The probe, which began with a Wells notice in August 2024, was related to allegations of the platform operating as a marketplace for unregistered securities. OpenSea founder Devin Finzer celebrated the closure of the investigation, considering it a victory for the NFT space, as the SEC decided not to label NFTs as securities, thus avoiding potential hindrances to industry innovation.
