Bybit Receives Over $1.2B to Recover from Billion-Dollar Hack

Over the weekend, Bybit was the most talked-about crypto exchange, and the reason is not far-fetched. On February 21st, the Dubai-based exchange lost around $1.5 billion to hackers.

Current data from the on-chain platform Lookonchain shows that Bybit has received over $1.2 billion to recoup its losses. Within this amount, over $267 million was borrowed from various entities, including Bitget and MEXC.

Bybit’s Way Back Up

Bybit’s crisis began on February 21st when it executed a routine transfer of ETH from an offline cold wallet to a warm wallet. The malicious actor behind the hack gained security control and transferred the stolen assets to a separate address. Investigations traced the hacker’s identity to the notorious North Korean hacking group Lazarus.

After experiencing what was regarded as one of the largest crypto hacks in history, Bybit began seeking ways to recover its losses. While at it, the platform suffered a bank run when many users suddenly withdrew their funds because they feared the exchange would become insolvent. That amount has now surpassed over $4 billion.

Bybit’s founder and CEO, Ben Zhou, disclosed in an X Spaces session that the exploit affected about 70% of users’ ETH holdings. Yesterday, the exchange’s team revealed they had recovered around $43 million from collaborative efforts from crypto entities like Tether, Bitget, Circle, ChangeNOW, and THORChain. These funds were recouped after the Pump.fun team blocked a memecoin launched by the Bybit exploiter.

Hours later, Lookonchain published a list of possible entities that have aided Bybit in recovering its losses. These 13 entities contributed approximately 446,870 ETH (worth over $1.2 billion), restoring Bybit’s ETH holdings to 100%.

Following Lookonchain’s post, Zhou reckoned that the crypto exchange has “closed the ETH gap.” He added that an updated proof-of-reserve (PoR) will soon be published to show that users’ holdings are fully backed, a step towards calming customers about their funds and the exchange’s solvency.

Latest Update: Bybit has already fully closed the ETH gap, new audited POR report will be published very soon to show that Bybit is again Back to 100% 1:1 on client assets through merkle tree, Stay tuned. https://t.co/QLa1vOujM6

— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) February 24, 2025