🌎 Bybit Offers $140 Million Bounty for Stolen Crypto

Bybit Offers Massive Bounty to Crack Crypto’s Largest Theft in History

Bybit, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has announced a substantial bounty to help recover over $1.4 billion in compromised Ethereum. The exchange is offering 10% of recovered funds, potentially up to $140 million, to cybersecurity experts and blockchain analysts who contribute to tracking and retrieving the stolen assets.

The Stolen Funds

The hack resulted in the theft of various cryptocurrencies, including:

401,347 $ETH worth $1.12 billion
90,376 $stETH worth $253.16 million
15,000 $cmETH worth $44.13 million
8,000 $mETH worth $23 million

The Investigation and Recovery Efforts

Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou emphasized the exchange’s commitment to strengthening security and liquidity while fostering industry-wide collaboration. “Within 24 hours of the event, we were overwhelmed with support from some of the best people and organizations in the industry, and we do not take it for granted. We have shared in a dark moment of crypto history, and we’ve proven we are better than the malicious actors.”

On-chain investigator ZachXBT identified North Korea’s Lazarus Group as the masterminds behind the hack. He secured a 50,000 ARKM bounty for discovering that Bybit’s Ethereum (ETH) multisig cold wallet was exploited during a routine transfer to the exchange’s warm wallet. The hackers manipulated the signing interface, making it display the correct wallet address while altering the underlying smart contract logic.

“We are committed to working with the best cybersecurity experts and blockchain analysts to recover the stolen funds and bring the perpetrators to justice.”