Bybit Offers Recovery Bounty to Retrieve $1.4B Stolen Ethereum

Highlights:

• Bybit offers a $140M bounty for cybersecurity experts assisting in recovering $1.4B in stolen Ethereum.
• Investigations link the hack to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, with funds already in laundering processes.
• Some funds have been recovered, with Tether freezing $181,000 tied to the stolen assets.

The Bybit exchange has announced a $140 million recovery bounty program following the recent biggest crypto heist. The Singapore-based exchange lost over $1.4 billion in Ethereum (ETH) and staked ETH (stETH) on February 21. In response to the threat, Bybit offers cybersecurity specialists 10% of the stolen sum if it can be recovered.

As part of the investigation and recovery efforts, Bybit is pledging 10% of recovered funds to reward ethical cyber and network security experts who play an active role in retrieving the stolen cryptocurrencies in the incident.

Read more here: https://t.co/DCKgSTnMVO

— Bybit (@Bybit_Official) February 22, 2025

Massive Crypto Heist Shakes Markets

A group of hackers managed to compromise the Exchange multi-signature Ethereum cold wallet and siphon off the funds to their destinations through manipulated transactions. The hack has been attributed to the Lazarus group affiliated with the North Korean government. On-chain investigator ZachXBT and the Arkham Intelligence team stated that the hackers had been involved in earlier attacks, such as those targeting exchanges Phemex and BingX.

In its quick response, Bybit has engaged blockchain analytics companies and other industry professionals. Despite these challenges, early attempts at recovery have pulled about $43 million back. The Mantle, SEAL, and mETH Protocol teams were able to stop a 15,000 cmETH worth over $43.5 million. Moreover, the stablecoin issue Tether froze about 181,000 USDT related to the hack. 

We just froze 181k USDt connected to the ByBit hack.
Might not be much but it's honest work.
We keep monitoring.
Kudos to @zachxbt

— Paolo Ardoino 🤖 (@paoloardoino) February 22, 2025

Bybit’s Recovery Bounty Program

According to the statement, Bybit utilizes its Recovery Bounty Program to attract cybersecurity personnel and crypto analysts worldwide. The contributors stand to earn up to $140 million of the total amount if $1.4 billion is recovered. Ben Zhou also highlighted the industry support stressing that the community reacted with amazing support within 24 hours of the incident. Interested persons or organizations can contact [email protected] to join the bounty program.

Transparency in the blockchain has been utilized to trace stolen funds. According to data from Etherscan, the hackers sent out the stolen funds to 53 different wallets, and more than 83 transactions were made within eight hours. On February 22, the group transferred 10,000 ETH, around $27 million in value, to the “Bybit Exploiter 54” wallet. The most recent transfer was of 66 ETH, worth about $182,831. However, continuous investigations are underway to try to detect and freeze the assets effectively and as early as possible.

Industry Collaboration Strengthens Recovery Efforts

Bybit’s recovery initiative clearly indicates that the recovery process needs all the support from players in the crypto space. Some firms, such as Arkham Intelligence, and individual researchers like ZachXBT, have remained vigilant in monitoring the actions of the hackers. Arkham awarded ZachXBT a bounty of 50,000 ARKM (equivalent to $34,000) for his efforts. However, Bybit continues to focus on the development of security measures and improving the company’s liquidity.

BREAKING: BYBIT $1 BILLION HACK BOUNTY SOLVED BY ZACHXBT

At 19:09 UTC today, @zachxbt submitted definitive proof that this attack on Bybit was performed by the LAZARUS GROUP.

His submission included a detailed analysis of test transactions and connected wallets used ahead of… https://t.co/O43qD2CM2U pic.twitter.com/jtQPtXl0C5

— Arkham (@arkham) February 21, 2025

Ben Zhou, the CEO of Bybit, ensured users that the exchange is dedicated to ‘learning from the incident.’ The exchange quickly addressed all the withdrawal requests and restored services to regain customer confidence. Zhou stated that Bybit strives to come out even stronger for this challenge, citing community support as the solution.