In a staggering incident that has sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency community, hackers have successfully stolen approximately $1.5 billion worth of crypto tokens from Bybit, a prominent digital asset exchange. This breach has been characterized by Bybit’s chief executive, Ben Zhou, as the most significant theft the industry has ever experienced.
The breach specifically involved the theft of Ethereum coins from Bybit’s offline storage, commonly referred to as a “cold” wallet. In a statement shared on the social media platform X, Zhou disclosed the details of the incident, emphasizing the unprecedented scale of the hack. “As far as we know, this could be the largest hack in the history of our industry,” he remarked during a subsequent live-stream update.
In the aftermath of the theft, there was a noticeable surge in withdrawal requests from users eager to secure their assets. However, Zhou noted that this frantic activity has since begun to taper off. To address the situation, Bybit is seeking a bridge loan from its partners, with the assurance that the exchange will compensate users for any coins that cannot be recovered.
This incident represents a significant setback for the cryptocurrency sector, which had been experiencing a resurgence in recent months, buoyed by expectations that the Trump administration would adopt a more favorable stance towards digital assets. The ongoing threat of large-scale thefts has been a persistent issue for the crypto industry since its inception, raising serious concerns about security protocols.
Historically, the industry has witnessed several high-profile hacks. For instance, in 2011, Mt. Gox, which was the leading platform for Bitcoin transactions at the time, suffered a breach that resulted in the loss of approximately 25,000 Bitcoins, valued at around $470 million at that time. More recently, in October 2022, the Binance exchange was targeted, leading to the theft of approximately $570 million due to a vulnerability in a smart contract—a type of automated program that executes actions based on predefined conditions.
Zhou confirmed that the recent hack resulted in the loss of around 400,000 Ethereum coins, which he estimated to be worth approximately $1.5 billion. Ethereum, the third most-traded cryptocurrency, follows Bitcoin and Tether, a stablecoin whose value is pegged to the US dollar.
Cold wallets are generally regarded as more secure than their online counterparts, known as “hot” wallets, due to their offline nature. Bybit’s cold wallet required multiple signatures for any coin transfers, adding an extra layer of security. However, Zhou admitted that the specifics of how the wallet was compromised remain unclear, and an investigation is currently underway.
In a related update, research group Arkham Intelligence reported on X that it had tracked approximately $1.36 billion worth of Ethereum leaving Bybit and moving to various other accounts, where the tokens were quickly sold off. This development underscores the urgency and scale of the breach, as the stolen assets are being rapidly liquidated across different platforms.
