Comprehensive source: fortune, Forbes and x

On February 21, According to Fortune, Bybit, the second largest cryptocurrency exchange behind Binance and the second largest trading volume, said Friday's hacking caused it to lose nearly $1.5 billion. This is the largest theft in the industry's history, accounting for more than half of the total amount of hacker losses in 2024, according to a report by analysis firm Chainalysis.

According to Nansen, the total amount of stolen at the time of the theft reached US$1.44 billion. On-chain tracking of funds shows that hackers stole 401,347 ETH from Bybit wallet, worth about $1.12 billion, and pledged ETH tokens worth $320 million.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou confirmed in a post Friday morning that a hacker controlled an offline Ethereum wallet for the platform and would All its contents are transferred to an unidentified address. Data analytics firm Arkham Intelligence confirmed that Bybit has recently experienced $1.4 billion in outflows, and hackers have moved that money to several different crypto wallets.

Zhou said in X's live broadcast that news of the hack scared Bybit's customers, who were fleeing the platform, resulting in "large withdrawals." In total, we have received over 350,000 withdrawal requests since the hack (10 hours ago), and so far, there are about 2,100 withdrawal requests pending. Overall, 99.994% of withdrawals have been completed. Despite our worst hacks ever (banking, cryptocurrency, finance), all Bybit features and products are still running, and the entire team stayed up all night, processing and answering customer questions and concerns. All staff are on standby.

When asked how many customers would be affected, Shunyet Jan, head of derivatives and institutions, said, "Now, everyone is affected."

As the market responded, Bitcoin fell 3% and Ethereum fell 4%, Zhou tried to calm customer concerns, saying their assets were still safe . "Even if the damage caused by the hacker cannotTo save, Bybit also has the ability to solve the problem. All customer assets are backed 1 to 1 and we can make up for losses,” he wrote on X, referring to the fiat or cryptocurrency reserves the company retains to support its clients’ cryptocurrency holdings.

This hacker attack, which lost $1.4 billion, is the largest hacker attack in the history of the cryptocurrency industry.

This amount pales in comparison to previous thefts, including a $615 million hacking attack on Ronin network in 2022 and a 6.13 on Poly network in 2021 $100 million hacking attack. The biggest hack last year targeted a cryptocurrency exchange called DMM Bitcoin in Japan, which lost more than $300 million.

While the identity of Bybit hackers is still unclear, the Chainalysis report noted that North Korean hackers were behind many major hacking incidents last year and were traced to others Large-scale thefts, including those targeting DMM Bitcoin and Ronin Network.

The report says North Korean hackers are notorious for "using advanced malware, social engineering and cryptocurrency theft to fund supported actions and circumvent international sanctions." .

The hackers currently hold more than 500,000 ETH, which is more than 240,000 ETH held by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The stolen ETH has been scattered into 53 wallets that are being actively monitored by the blockchain security and smart contract audit team. Given the extra-concert nature of the attack, selling such a large amount of ETH is a challenge. Wallets track in real time, so it’s difficult for hackers to transfer funds without being discovered.

In addition, the current market conditions are not conducive to clearing such a large amount of ETH. If a hacker sells out at a large scale, it could trigger a sharp decline in the market—just like Vitalik Buterin sells its ETH at twice the scale. However, as hackers get ETH at almost zero cost, achieving the highest selling price may not be a priority.

This hack occurred at the coincidence of ETHDenver is about to be held, one of the largest annual meetings in the Ethereum ecosystem, where projects will usually announce major updates and new versions. ETHDenver has always been a positive market event, and the latest developments of ecosystem projects will be announced here.

However, sentiment in the Ethereum community has been sluggish over the past five weeks, with internal controversy, criticism of Vitalik Buterin and concerns about the future of the Ethereum Foundation This emotion. Hackers further undermine enthusiasm and cast a shadow on events that usually drive the positive momentum of ETH.