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Non-KYC centralized exchange eXch has denied accusations that it’s laundering funds from the Bybit hack on behalf of the Lazarus Group. This was in response to social media accusations that it had moved over $30 million from the exploit. eXch’s Response In a Feb. 23 announcement posted on the Bitcointalk forum, the eXch team said it is “Not laundering money for Lazarus/DPRK.” Before the statement, blockchain investigator ZachXBT had alleged in a February 22 Telegram post that eXch processed $35 million of the stolen funds and mistakenly sent 34 ETH worth $96,000 to another exchange’s hot wallet. Other analysts and blockchain security firm SlowMist also reported that eXch received ETH from wallets associated with the Bybit incident. Nick Bax, a member of the Security Alliance white hat hacker group, estimated that the platform handled about $30 million for North Korea on that day. SlowMist further claimed that a significant amount of ETH had been converted into other cryptocurrencies on eXch. In response, the exchange dismissed the accusations as a “targeted FUD attack” and clarified that the transaction in question was not linked to them. However, the team acknowledged that a small portion of the stolen funds had entered their platform but maintained that it was an isolated case and the only transaction from the incident processed by eXch. The team also criticized ZachXBT, labeling his statements as unfounded and advising the community to verify information from credible sources instead of relying on amateur researchers. CZ’s Solution The Bybit hack is now the largest crypto theft in history, with attackers stealing more than $1.4 billion after gaining control of the exchange’s Ethereum multisig cold wallet. Meanwhile, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has advocated for withdrawal pauses following the incident. In a February 21 post on X, the former executive commented: “Not an easy situation to deal with. Might suggest to halt all withdrawals for a bit as a standard security precaution. Will provide any assistance if needed. Good luck!” However, there have been concerns that this solution would cause panic. Addressing the criticism, Zhao clarified that his recommendation was based on experience and intended to ensure system integrity. The Binance founder shared an example from 2019, when his exchange temporarily suspended withdrawals following a $40 million hack, later observing more deposits than withdrawals once operations resumed. However, he emphasized that every situation required a judgment call and expressed confidence in Bybit CEO Ben Zhou’s handling of the crisis. He also commended his transparency and calm response, contrasting it with the crisis management approaches of other CEOs, such as those at WazirX and FTX. The post Crypto Exchange eXch Denies Laundering Bybit Hack Funds for Lazarus Group appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bybit exchange has reportedly purchased 266,700 ETH worth $742 million across two days, according to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain. The transactions occurred in the days following Bybit’s $1.4 billion hack, which has taken the industry by surprise. A wallet linked to Bybit, identified as “0x2E45…1b77,” purchased 157,660 Ethereum (ETH)—worth approximately $437 million—from cryptocurrency investment firms Galaxy Digital, FalconX, and Wintermute through over-the-counter transactions. This wallet made its first transaction on Feb. 22 at 4:44 PM UTC. It seems that #Bybit has bought 266,694 $ETH($742M) after being hacked.0x2E45…1b77(related to #Bybit) bought 157,660 $ETH($437.82M) from Galaxy Digital, FalconX, Wintermute via OTC.0xd7CF…A995(likely related to #Bybit) bought 109,033 $ETH($304.12M) from DEXs and CEXs.… pic.twitter.com/8FfGZo18OU — Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 24, 2025 A second wallet, “0xd7CF…A995,” was also involved in a $304 million Ethereum purchase, conducted through both centralized and decentralized exchanges. While not formally recognized as part of Bybit, both Lookonchain and Arkham Intelligence indicate close connections based on transaction trends. The wallet’s interactions with Binance and MEXC hot wallets further fuel rumors suggesting a link to the exchange. You might also like: Ethena Labs reveals zero unrealized PNL exposure to Bybit The purchases follow one of the largest crypto exchange hacks in history, in which a hacker exploited Bybit’s multisig cold wallet using a masked URL trick to manipulate contract logic and drain over 401,000 ETH. The attacker has since begun moving the stolen funds across multiple wallets, prompting a coordinated effort to freeze assets. A joint effort between major blockchain entities has already resulted in $42.89 million being frozen in just one day, according to Bybit’s Feb. 23 X post. Platforms like Tether, THORChain, Avalanche, CoinEx, Bitget, and Circle have all played a role in identifying and blocking blacklisted addresses, limiting the attacker’s ability to launder funds. A coordinated effort led to the freezing of $42.89M in just one day. Thanks to the following teams for their swift action: @Tether_to: Flagged address and froze 181K USDT @THORChain: Blocked the blacklist @ChangeNOW_io: Froze 34 ETH @FixedFloat: Froze 120K USDC + USDT… — Bybit (@Bybit_Official) February 23, 2025 Despite the massive hack, Bybit has maintained its financial stability, and CEO Ben Zhou affirmed that all user funds are secure. According to Lookonchain data, Bybit has received about 446,870 ETH, roughly $1.23 billion, from whale deposits, loans, and ETH purchases since the hack. A $140 million bounty has also been offered by the exchange to security researchers and ethical hackers who help retrieve the stolen assets. Read more: Ethereum wavers as Bybit ETH reserves rise after Lazarus hack

Bybit, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, recently faced a massive $1.5 billion hack, allegedly by North Korea's Lazarus Group, affecting its ether cold wallet. Total outflows hit $5.5 billion, with assets dropping from $16.9 billion to $11.2 billion. CEO Ben Zhou emphasized swift action to process withdrawals and secure funds. Key Points: - 70% of clients' ether was compromised. - Most withdrawals were stablecoins, not ether. - Safe, a custody protocol, temporarily shut down functionalities. - Bybit engaged authorities and blockchain analysis firms. Join the discussion: Should Ethereum consider a blockchain rollback? 🤔 Share your thoughts!

With not all information public, Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analysis firm, has concluded that North Korea’s Lazarus group was responsible for the $1.46 billion hack on the Bybit exchange. On platform X, Arkham offered a bounty of 50,000 ARKM tokens, worth around $30,000, for anyone who could identify the attackers responsible for Friday’s hack. Not long after, Arkham announced that freelancer ZachXBT had provided “definite proof” that the North Korean hacking group was behind the hack. According to current information, Lazarus, North Korea’s elite state-sponsored hacking group, pulled off the largest hack in history on a centralized crypto exchange. The hack resulted in the withdrawal of Ethereum tokens amounting to around $1.5 billion. Ethereum security researchers are scrambling to investigate the incident to understand how the attack happened and whether the hack may spread to other exchanges. Within days, crypto enthusiast ZachXBT identified the Lazarus group as the likely culprit. Lazarus has been responsible for many of the top attacks on digital assets. Blockchain firm Nansen revealed that the attackers first withdrew the funds into a single wallet and then distributed them to multiple wallets. “Initially, the stolen funds were transferred to a primary wallet, which then distributed them across more than 40 wallets”, Nansen said. “The attackers converted all stETH, cmETH, and mETH to ETH before systematically transferring ETH in $27 million increments to over 10 additional wallets”. Ben Zhou, Bybit CEO, urged customers to remain calm and assured them that 80% of funds were recovered by using bridge loans to replace the stolen money. Despite the current bank run on Bybit, Zhou assured users that withdrawals would not be blocked and that customers would have access to their funds. Leveraging bridge loans allows Zhou to honour withdrawal requests. At this stage, the return of stolen tokens is highly unlikely. ZachXBT has yet to release all data pointing to the Lazarus group. He says his analysis involved tracking online connections between wallet addresses until, with the assistance of a colleague, he was able to narrow down the suspects to the North Korean hacking group. ZachXBT found a connection between the wallets used in the Bybit hack and the wallets used in the $85 million hack of Singapore-based exchange Phemex. At this stage, at least, the attack appears to be caused by Blind Signing, in which the smart contact is approved without complete knowledge of its contents. “This attack vector is quickly becoming the favorite form of cyber attack used by advanced threat actors, including North Korea”, said Blockaid’s CEO Ido Ben Natan. “It’s the same type of attack that was used in the Radiant Capital breach and the WazirX incident.” “The problem is that even with the best key management solutions, today most of the signing process is delegated to software interfaces that interact with dApps.” “This creates a critical vulnerability- it opens the door for malicious manipulation of the signing process, which is exactly what happened in this attack,” he said. The stolen funds are unlikely to be returned because North Korea does not have an extradition agreement with the United States. The North Korean hacking group was able to attain more money in this single hack than in all of its hacks last year. This hack contrasts with other previous large-scale attacks, such as the 2016 Bitfinex hack, in that the people behind this attack will likely get away with it and will most likely keep the stolen money. This shows that the American justice system is limited to countries with extradition agreements. Although America focuses on retrieving lost funds through tax, there’s not much they can do about large-scale hacks. Tom Robinson, Elliptic’s chief scientist, described the attack as the “largest crypto theft of all time.” “The next largest crypto theft would be the $611 million stolen from Poly Network in 2021. In fact it may even be the largest single theft of all time”. Bybit appears to be processing withdrawals just fine after their hack,” wrote Coinbase executive Conor Grogan. They have $20B+ in assets on the platform, and their cold wallets are untouched. “Given the isolated nature of the signing hack and how well capitalized Bybit is, I don’t expect there to be contagion.” “A minute into the FTX bankrun it was clear they had no funds to withdraw. I know everyone has PTSD but Bybit is not an FTX situation, if it was I would be screaming it out. They will be fine”. The Lazarus group’s history can be traced back to 2017 when they hacked South Korean exchanges and stole over $200 million in Bitcoin. Crypto bank robberies seem to be here to stay and will need to be a major focus within the crypto industry.

The post Biggest Crypto Hack in History: Market Crashes After Bybit Faces $1.5 Billion ETH Hack appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News The crypto market experienced a significant downturn after Bybit, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, announced a devastating hack involving $1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrencies. This incident marks the largest crypto hack to date. Recent updates, including statements from the CEO, confirm that Bybit was compromised, resulting in the loss of approximately $1.5 billion in Ethereum. Bybit Faces Biggest Hack in History Bybit, the Singapore-based centralized crypto exchange, appears to have been hacked. Early estimates suggest the exchange has lost over $1.46 billion worth of ETH, though the investigation is ongoing. The CEO described the hack on Bybit’s Ethereum multisig cold wallet, where attackers manipulated the signing interface to trick signers into approving a change in the wallet’s smart contract logic, allowing the theft of all ETH in that wallet. CEO Ben Zhou said, “Bybit ETH multisig cold wallet just made a transfer to our warm wallet about 1 hr ago. It appears that this specific transaction was musked, all the signers saw the musked UI which showed the correct address and the URL was from Safe. However, the signing message was to change the smart contract logic of our ETH cold wallet. This resulted Hacker took control of the specific ETH cold wallet we signed and transfered all ETH in the cold wallet to this unidentified address. Please rest assured that all other cold wallets are secure. All withdraws are NORMAL. I will keep you guys posted as more develops, If any team can help us to track the stolen fund will be appreciated.” The story will be updated.