Bybit, the market’s third-largest crypto exchange, has just been hacked for nearly $1.5 billion in Ethereum on Friday.
Onchain activity shows the hacker has been selling the stolen funds for the past hour.
“Please rest assured that all other cold wallets are secure. All withdraws are NORMAL,” Ben Zhou, CEO of Bybit said.
The hacker gained access to Ether in the exchange’s cold wallet — a secure, offline storage device for holding cryptocurrencies — and sent funds to an unidentified address.
In a later statement, Zhou said, “Bybit is solvent even if this hack loss is not recovered. All of clients assets are 1 to 1 backed. We can cover the loss.”
Bybit Hot wallet, Warm wallet and all other cold wallets are fine. The only cold wallet that was hacked was ETH ($2,754.49) cold wallet. ALL ($0.00) withdraws are NORMAL.
— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) February 21, 2025
Prior to today’s Bybit hack, the largest hack in the crypto industry was the Ronin Network exploit on March 23, 2022, which resulted in a $600 million loss.
Bybit did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment.
This is a developing story.
Liam Kelly is a Berlin-based reporter for DL News. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected].
