Bybit stolen $1.5 billion marks the biggest theft in history? Learn more in one article

Bybit was hacked on February 21, 2023, resulting in more than $1.5 billion in ETH and stETH. The attack involved tampering with the logic of smart contracts, which the attacker suspected was done by Lazarus Group. The event caused market shock, resulting in a plunge in Bybit tokens and a surge in withdrawals. Although Bybit says the security of customer funds is guaranteed, the incident highlights the security challenges of the cryptocurrency industry.

On February 21, 2025, Bybit, a world-renowned cryptocurrency exchange, suffered a major hacking incident, with analysts estimated losses of nearly $1.5 billion, making it the largest theft in the history of the cryptocurrency industry. Here are the details of the incident:

1. Event passing: At 20:30 on February 21, Beijing time, Bybit detected unauthorized activities in the Ethereum cold money bud during the routine plan to transfer ETH from the ETH multi-signature cold money bud bag to the hot money bud. The attacker tampers with a complex means tampered with the transaction's signature interface, so that while the signer sees the correct address, the underlying smart contract logic is changed. The attack resulted in the transfer of funds to an unknown address, with more than 400,000 ETH and stETH with total assets worth more than $1.5 billion.
2. Platform response : After the incident, Bybit stated that all other cold money buds under it were in a safe state and that customer funds were not affected. Bybit has strong reserves and is supported by 1:1, all customer assets are fully protected, and users can view relevant information on the proof of reserve webpage. Bybit’s asset management is over $20 billion and will use bridge loans if necessary to ensure user funds are available. The Bybit platform and all other services, including transaction products, cards and P2P, are functioning normally.
3. Market reaction: This incident triggered a shock in the cryptocurrency market, with Ethereum falling by about 2%, and Bitcoin price also affected, falling by more than 1%. The number of withdrawals on the Bybit platform has surged, but the exchange said the withdrawal business is operating normally. Bybit token BYB plummeted 12.3% in 1 hour, and the futures market cleared long positions of more than US$200 million.
4. Investigation progress and potential attackers: Blockchain security company SlowMist pointed out that the Bybit attack has similarities to the previous hacker attacks suffered by Radiant Capital, and suspected that it might have been done by North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group. Security researcher ZachXBT also said he has submitted solid evidence that Bybit’s attack was initiated by Lazarus Group and that the attack could be related to the $30 million theft suffered by the Phemex exchange in January.

Although Bybit has taken a series of measures to respond, the incident once again highlights the severe security challenges facing the cryptocurrency industry.Cold money beans are considered to be a relatively safe storage method, but this incident shows that even Cold money beans may be maliciously tampered with the logic of smart contracts during the transaction process

Mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges in 2025:

Ouyi OKX:

Gateio Sesame Opening:

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