The recent hack of the crypto exchange ByBit has sent shockwaves through the industry, with approximately $1.5 billion in Ethereum stolen in what has been described as one of the biggest hacks in history.
On February 21, ByBit took to social media platform X to announce that unauthorized activity had been detected involving one of its Ethereum cold wallets. The exchange revealed that the incident occurred when their ETH multisig cold wallet executed a transfer to a warm wallet. Unfortunately, the transaction was manipulated through a sophisticated attack that masked the signing interface, allowing the attacker to gain control of the cold wallet and transfer the funds to an unidentified address.
While the total amount stolen was not disclosed by ByBit, on-chain data shows that the attacker made off with 401,346.76 ETH, equivalent to approximately $1 billion. Additionally, blockchain analysis firm Lookonchain reported that the stolen assets included around $1.5 billion in various assets, including staked Ethereum. The suspicious address has already started exchanging the stolen funds for ETH.
Despite the hack, ByBit reassured its users that all operations were still running normally and that they were actively investigating the incident. The exchange called on teams with expertise in blockchain analytics and fund recovery to collaborate in tracing the stolen assets. Ben Zhou, ByBit’s CEO, confirmed the hack and clarified that only the ETH cold wallet was compromised, with all other wallets remaining secure.
The cryptocurrency community is closely monitoring the situation as ByBit works to recover from the hack and prevent any further breaches. This incident serves as a stark reminder of the importance of robust security measures in the crypto industry and the need for constant vigilance against malicious actors.