ByBit Hack: Crypto Investigator Traces Those Who "Stole" N2.5trn from Exchange, Releases Details
- ByBit hack got many talking about the future of crypto as the centralised exchange lost $1.5 billion (N2,253,390,000,000) to hackers
- The exchange CEO, Ben Zhou, gave details about how the hackers took control of their Eth wallet to access the funds
- A popular crypto investigator, ZackXBT has unmasked those behind the hack as Lazarus Group, a team of hackers linked to past theft
A cryptocurrency exchange ByBit was hacked on Friday, November 21 and it became big news as many described it as the biggest crypto hack in history.
The hackers moved $1.5 billion (N2,253,390,000,000) in Ethereum (Eth) from a ByBit warm wallet.
Source: Getty Images
ByBit hack explained
The exchange mentioned that the hackers tricked his security as they moved money out of the exchange.
Explaining how the hack happened, Ben Zhou, ByBit CEO said that a multisign ETH cold wallet sent a transfer to their warm wallet.
While they noticed the transaction, they never knew the hackers were going to modify their wallet which gave them total control to move funds out.
Tracing ByBit hackers
In the heat of the theft, Arkham Intelligence put a bounty asking to reward anyone willing to trace who the hackers were.
A versatile crypto investigator, ZackXBT, traced the stolen Eth using on-chain analysis and identified those behind it as Lazarus Group.
Recovering ByBit funds
Arkham said that it had shared all the information by ZachXBT with ByBit to help in possible recovery.
While answering a question, ZachXBT said that between 15-30% is a more common recovery percentage in a big theft as this. He hinted that laundering such large funds would also be hard for the hackers.
Source: Getty Images
Update on ByBit hack
In an update on the case, the crypto investigator said that hack group just connected the ByBit stolen funds to an earlier hack (Phemex's), mixing both funds.
An expert crypto trader, Ajuwon Aanu, spoke on the issue as he pointed out the exchange users may not need to panic.
"The hack does not necessarily mean ByBit is that vulnerable but that they need to improve on their security. The multisign nature of the hack shows this kind is new. On the exchange solvency, I think their reserve (which is public) gives no room for worry."
Legit.ng compiled some of the reactions to the hack below:
@Smokey_titan asked:
"How long do you think they’ll hold the eth?"
@0x_Vivek said:
"Real-time blockchain sleuthing at its finest. they're not just tracking funds, they're mapping the laundering network."
@spen88 asked:
"Sorry for the dumb question - but at which point can it be evidenced that it is Lazarus. Is it from a point where they have openly claimed responsibility for an exploit/hack? Curious."
@Ola_Crrypt said:
"Kudos Zach. I won’t be Suprised if you’re in your 20’s. Instead North Korea to rug us they decided to bring in hacking meta. Fairs."
@dafr0g_ said:
"This is another perfect reason why current crypto technologies make sense for central currencies. they're not anonymous at all. they're far less anonymous than cash. if they can squash ETH to XMR swaps they would effectively stop black market transactions across all currencies."
@SailorOG21 said:
"@zachxbt has been done to much in this space along the time with little monetary reward .. Happy to see that he is getting 30k USD but actually is no that much if we are talking of the biggest hack of the history!"
Crypto hackers stole billions in 2024
Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that crypto hackers stole $2.2 billion from crypto platforms in 2024. This is according to a new report released by Chainalysis, a blockchain Analytics firm.
The figure was 21.7% higher than in 2023, showing that threats in the cryptocurrency industry have surged in the current year.
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Source: Legit.ng
