The Bybit hack that occurred recently has seen a significant rise in the amount of stolen funds that have become untraceable. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou revealed that approximately $400 million, representing 27.6% of the $1.4 billion in stolen Ethereum, cannot be tracked. This is a substantial increase from the previous month, when only 7.59% of the missing assets were untraceable.
The surge in untraceable funds has been attributed to the use of crypto mixers and decentralized cross-chain services by the attackers. These tools, designed to enhance privacy, have been exploited to conceal the stolen funds. The Wasabi Mixer, known for its anonymity features, was used to launder 944 BTC, equivalent to over $90 million. Additionally, Thorchain facilitated the conversion of 531 BTC (18,206 ETH) into Ethereum.
Following the use of Wasabi, smaller amounts of the stolen crypto were moved through other privacy-focused platforms like CryptoMixer, Tornado Cash, and Railgun. The assets were then transferred across various crypto platforms such as eXch, Lombard, LiFi, Stargate, and SunSwap. These platforms allowed the attackers to shift assets across multiple blockchains before converting them into fiat currency through peer-to-peer and over-the-counter exchanges.
Despite the growing portion of untraceable funds, Bybit emphasized that the majority of the stolen assets are still visible on-chain. Around 68.57% of the stolen Ethereum can be tracked, with only 3.84% of the funds frozen. Approximately 343,000 ETH, worth over $960 million, has been converted into about 10,000 BTC and dispersed across nearly 36,000 wallets. Another 5,991 ETH, representing 1.2% of the total, remains in Ethereum wallets spread across more than 12,000 addresses.
Bybit is calling on the crypto community to collaborate with the firm in tracing the stolen funds. Zhou mentioned that they welcome more reports and require assistance from bounty hunters to decode mixers. So far, the exchange has received 5,443 bounty submissions from on-chain investigators, with 70 verified and 12 contributors rewarded $2.3 million.
The ongoing efforts to trace and recover the stolen funds demonstrate the importance of community involvement and cooperation in combating cryptocurrency hacks.