Bybit Said it Closed $1.5B Gap Left After Largest Crypto Exploit in History

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou said the exchange has recovered its ETH reserves after a $1.5 billion exploit on Feb. 21.

“Latest Update: Bybit has already fully closed the ETH gap, new audited POR report will be published very soon to show that Bybit is again Back to 100% 1:1 on client assets through merkle tree, Stay tuned,” Zhou said in an X post.

According to Lookonchain data, Bybit replaced most of the stolen funds through loans from other crypto exchanges, whale deposits, and additional ETH purchases.

The Bybit Hack

Investigations are ongoing into the Bybit hack, the largest crypto exploit in history. In a Feb. 22 blog post, Bybit announced a recovery bounty program promising rewards of up to 10% ($140 million) of the stolen funds to individuals who help retrieve it.

In a Feb. 21 X post, blockchain data intelligence platform Arkham Intelligence announced that onchain sleuth ZachXBT had provided substantial evidence to suggest that the Lazarus Group was responsible for the Bybit hack. The Lazarus Group is a North Korean-affiliated hacking syndicate.

Meanwhile, Tether’s president, Paolo Ardoino, announced in a Feb. 22 X post that the company had frozen $181,000 worth of USDT related to the Bybit hack.

“We just froze 181k USDt connected to the ByBit hack. Might not be much but it's honest work. We keep monitoring. Kudos to @zachxbt,” Ardoino said.