Bybit Hack Update: $1 Billion in Stolen Funds Still Traceable, CEO Warns of Critical Freezing Window
Over 77% of the crypto stolen in Bybit’s record $1.4 billion hack remains traceable on-chain, while 20% has been successfully laundered and is now untraceable, CEO Ben Zhou shared in an update on X early Tuesday.
“The next few days are critical for tracking and freezing these funds before they are fully off-ramped through exchanges, OTC markets, and P2P networks,” Zhou stated, emphasizing the urgency of the situation.
A total of 417,348 ETH, valued at approximately $1 billion, is still visible on the blockchain, despite hackers moving the funds through privacy-centric THORChain. Meanwhile, about 79,655 ETH (~$200 million) has been fully laundered using ExCH, making further tracing nearly impossible.
An additional 40,233 ETH ($100 million) passed through OKX’s Web3 proxy, with 23,553 ETH ($65 million) now completely untraceable.
Zhou revealed that 83% of the stolen ETH—roughly 361,255 ETH (~$900 million)—was converted into Bitcoin and distributed across 6,954 wallets, with each wallet holding an average of 1.71 BTC.
According to DefiLlama, THORChain saw a record-breaking $4.66 billion in swap volume in the week ending March 2, generating more than $5.5 million in fees—some of which is suspected to be linked to the Bybit exploit.
The attack, attributed to North Korea’s infamous Lazarus Group, was executed through an exploit in SafeWallet, a third-party wallet service integrated with Bybit. Hackers reportedly compromised a developer’s device, allowing them to manipulate a routine transfer and siphon off nearly $1.5 billion in ETH.
Despite the massive breach, Bybit has fully restored a 1:1 backing of client assets. On-chain activity suggests the exchange replenished over $400 million via OTC purchases, while another $300 million was sourced directly from exchanges to stabilize operations.
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