Bybit hack, withdrawals top $5.3B, but ‘reserves exceed liabilities’ — Hacken

Cryptocurrency trade Bybit has maintained reserves exceeding its liabilities regardless of struggling a $1.4 billion hack and an total $5.3 billion decline in complete belongings, in response to DefiLlama information.

The Feb. 21 hack marked the largest crypto theft in history, with attackers stealing greater than $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether (STETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH) and different ERC-20 tokens.

For the reason that incident, the worth of Bybit’s complete belongings has fallen by over $5.3 billion, together with the $1.4 billion misplaced to the hack, DefiLlama information exhibits.

Regardless of the hack and drop in belongings, Bybit’s trade reserves nonetheless exceed its liabilities, in response to its impartial Proof-of-Reserve (PoR) auditor, Hacken. In a Feb. 21 publish on X, Hacken confirmed:

“As we speak’s hack was huge—a tricky hit for the trade. However right here’s the underside line: Bybit’s reserves nonetheless exceed its liabilities. As their impartial PoR auditor, we’ve confirmed that person funds stay absolutely backed.”

Bybit processed greater than 350,000 withdrawal requests inside 10 hours, finishing 99.9% of them by 1:45 am UTC, Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou mentioned in a Feb. 22 X post.

“Though we’ve got been hit by the worst hack presumably within the historical past of any medians (banks, crypto, finance), However all Bybit capabilities and product stay purposeful, the Complete crew had been awake all night time to course of and reply consumer questions and considerations,” Zhou wrote.

The Bybit hack alone accounts for more than half of the $2.3 billion stolen in crypto-related hacks in 2024, marking a big setback for the trade.

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The $1.4B Bybit hack: What it’s essential to know

Blockchain safety analysts, together with Arkham Intelligence and onchain sleuth ZachXBT, have traced the Bybit attack to the North Korean state-affiliated Lazarus Group — which can be the prime suspect within the $600 million Ronin network hack.

Based on Meir Dolev, co-founder and chief technical officer at Cyvers, the assault shares similarities with the $230 million WazirX hack and the $58 million Radiant Capital hack.

Dolev mentioned the Ethereum multisig chilly pockets was compromised by way of a misleading transaction, tricking signers into unknowingly approving a malicious sensible contract logic change.

“It appears that evidently Bybit’s ETH multisig chilly pockets was compromised by way of a misleading transaction that tricked signers into unknowingly approving a malicious sensible contract logic change.”

This allowed the hacker to realize management of the chilly pockets and switch all ETH to an unknown deal with,” Dolev instructed Cointelegraph.

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The assault highlights that even centralized exchanges with robust safety measures stay vulnerable to sophisticated cyberattacks, analysts say.

Over the previous yr, North Korean hackers have been additionally chargeable for the $305 million DMM Bitcoin hack, the $50 million Upbit hack, the $50 million Radiant Capital hack and the $16 million Rain Administration hack, in response to a joint statement issued by america, Japan and South Korea.

The assertion got here practically three weeks after South Korean authorities sanctioned 15 North Koreans for allegedly producing funds for North Korea’s nuclear weapons improvement program by way of cryptocurrency heist and cyber theft.

Journal: China’s ‘point running’ crypto scams, pig butchers kidnap kids: Asia Express