Bybit crypto exchange suffers record-breaking $1.4 billion hack
Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has confirmed a massive security breach resulting in the theft of approximately $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH), marking the world's largest known cryptocurrency heist. The company announced the “sophisticated attack” on Friday, revealing that hackers compromised one of its offline “cold” wallets.
Bybit's CEO and co-founder, Ben Zhou, detailed the incident in a livestream, explaining that approximately 401,346 ETH were stolen. This staggering amount, valued at roughly $1.4 billion at the time of the breach, has been independently verified by crypto security firms Elliptic and researcher ZachXBT.
This breach surpasses previous major crypto thefts, including the $624 million Ronin Network hack and the $611 million Poly Network incident, according to data from Rekt, a web3 and crypto breach tracking site.
"In fact, it may even be the largest single theft of all time," stated Tom Robinson, Elliptic’s co-founder and chief scientist, emphasizing the unprecedented scale of the loss, even when compared to traditional financial heists. For context, the previously considered largest bank robbery involved the theft of around $1 billion from the Central Bank of Iraq.
Zhou explained on X (formerly Twitter) that the hackers "took control" of a cold wallet, designed to be offline and therefore theoretically secure, and transferred the funds to an online "warm" wallet. He assured users that Bybit remains "solvent" and possesses the financial resources to cover the loss, even if the stolen funds are not recovered.
Bybit, based in Dubai, reported an estimated $16 billion in total assets as of last week, according to CoinMarketCap. This substantial financial backing is crucial in mitigating the impact of such a massive loss.
To put the magnitude of this theft into perspective, the total amount of cryptocurrency stolen by hackers in all of 2024 was around $2.2 billion, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. In 2023, the total was estimated at $2 billion. The Bybit hack alone accounts for nearly two-thirds of last year’s total crypto-related thefts.
What next
The incident raises fresh concerns about security in the cryptocurrency industry, particularly for exchanges handling large volumes of digital assets. While blockchain technology allows transactions to be traced, recovering stolen crypto remains a significant challenge, as cybercriminals often use techniques such as mixing services and decentralized exchanges to obfuscate the trail.
Still, Bybit has said it’s continuing with efforts to investigate the breach and recover the stolen funds and is calling for any team that can assist to come forward.
