Bybit cold wallet hacked: $1.46 billion stolen in one of cryptocurrency’s biggest exchange thefts

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has been hacked, resulting in the loss of almost $1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency. This is reported to be one of the largest crypto hacks in history.

The company’s chief executive officer Ben Zhou has confirmed the attack, and said that one of Bybit’s offline Ethereum wallets was taken over by the hacker. An estimated $1.46 billion was siphoned away in a series of transactions.

Ethereum prices fall

The prices of Ethereum fell after the news, Business Insider reported.


The hacker offloaded about $200 million of staked Ether (stETH) on decentralised exchanges. This led to a drop of 4 per cent in Ethereum’s price.

According to CoinGecko, the price of the cryptocurrency was down 2.4 percent at $2,668.18.

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Ben Zhou on Bybit hack

The CEO made a series of posts detailing the attack and reiterated that only one of its offline Ethereum wallets was hacked. Ben Chou claimed that the Bybit Hot wallet, as well as Warm wallet and all other offline wallets were fine and all withdrawals from them were normal. He added that the matter was being investigated, as per Reuters.

In another post he stated that Bybit was solvent, so even if the amount was not recovered from the attack, the assets of all clients were one-to-one back, so the loss could be covered.

How did the Bybit hack take place?

According to reports, the attack was first flagged by blockchain analyst ZachXBT. The attacker moved 401,346 ETH, which were valued at around $1.1 billion, as well as MegaETH (mETH) and staked Ether (stETH-USD) into a new wallet. They then started liquidating the funds.

Largest crypto hack in history?

If the full loss is confirmed, this could be the biggest ever crypto exchange hack.

Famous attacks earlier include the Ronin Bridge exploit ($650 million), CoinCheck ($530 million) and Mt. Gox ($470 million) hacks.

Japan’s DMM Bitcoin and India’s WazirX crypto exchanges also reported attacks last year. WazirX reported a loss of $235 million, while $305 million was stolen from DMM Bitcoin.

According to a report by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis in December 2024, the funds stolen by attacking cryptocurrency platforms had jumped 21 per cent year-on-year.

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In 2024, $2.2 billion worth of crypto assets were stolen. The funds stolen exceeded $1 billion for the fourth consecutive year. As per the report, the incidences of crypto exchange hacking were set to rise over the coming years.

FAQs

1. What is Ethereum?
It is a blockchain that powers decentralised applications. It has a cryptocurrency named Ether (Eth).

2. What is Bybit?
Bybit is a cryptocurrency exchange that caters to over 60 million users worldwide.