Bybit CEO Ben Zhou revealed that almost 28% of the $1.4 billion stolen within the February 2025 hack linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group has turn into untraceable.
In a summary shared on X on Monday, 21 April 2025, Zhou detailed how the attackers efficiently obfuscated over $390 million price of crypto utilizing a posh chain of mixers, cross-chain bridges, and OTC platforms.
Zhou stated that of the whole 500,000 ETH stolen, round 68.57% stays traceable. In the meantime, 27.95% has “gone darkish” and simply 3.84% has been frozen.
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Lazarus Laundered Funds By means of Mixers Like Wasabi, Twister Money, and Railgun
The laundered funds had been first routed by privacy-enhancing mixers corresponding to Wasabi. They had been then moved through different mixers like Twister Money, Railgun, and CryptoMixer.
From there, the attackers used cross-chain bridges and platforms together with Thorchain, eXch, LiFi, Stargate, Lombard, and SunSwap to transform the funds into extra liquid belongings.
The hack, which concerned full management over a selected ETH chilly pockets, noticed your entire 500,000 ETH drained to an unknown tackle. Forensic evaluation revealed that 432,748 ETH—about 84.45% of the stolen quantity—was swapped from Ether to Bitcoin utilizing Thorchain.
Of that, 342,975 ETH (roughly $960 million) was transformed into 10,003 BTC and distributed throughout greater than 35,700 wallets, every holding a mean of 0.28 BTC.
Zhou famous {that a} smaller portion—1.17% of the stolen funds or 5,991 ETH—stays on the Ethereum community, unfold throughout 12,490 wallets.
4.21.25 Government Abstract on Hacked Funds:
Whole hacked funds of USD 1.4bn round 500k ETH. 68.57% stay traceable, 27.59% have gone darkish, 3.84% have been frozen. The untraceable funds primarily flowed into mixers then by bridges to P2P and OTC platforms.
Just lately, we’ve got…— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) April 21, 2025
In response to the assault, Bybit launched the Lazarus Bounty initiative, aimed toward encouraging the crypto neighborhood to assist monitor down the stolen belongings.
Zhou shared that this system has to this point acquired 5,443 stories, with 70 validated leads. “We want extra bounty hunters who can decode mixer exercise. That’s the place loads of the complexity lies,” Zhou added.
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eXch To Shut Down Amid Allegations Tied To Bybit Hack
Final week, cryptocurrency alternate eXch announced it would officially cease operations on 1 Might 2025. This was following allegations that the platform was used to launder funds linked to the high-profile Bybit hack.
The alternate cited growing strain from authorities and inside consensus amongst its management crew to withdraw from the market.
The controversy facilities on claims that North Korea’s Lazarus Group laundered roughly $35 million by eXch. These funds had been a part of the estimated $1.4 billion stolen in an enormous exploit focusing on Bybit earlier this yr.
eXch acknowledged it had turn into the main focus of an “energetic transatlantic operation” designed to dismantle its infrastructure and doubtlessly convey authorized expenses in opposition to its operators.
The fallout from the Bybit hack, one of many largest in crypto historical past, has been vital. Greater than $5 billion in consumer withdrawals adopted the breach.
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Key Takeaways
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Almost 28% of the $1.4B stolen within the Bybit hack is now untraceable, having moved by mixers and bridges. -
Lazarus Group used platforms like Wasabi, Twister Money, and Thorchain to launder and swap stolen funds into BTC. -
Bybit’s Lazarus Bounty program has acquired over 5,400 suggestions because the alternate intensifies efforts to trace the lacking crypto.
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