Hackers laundered more than half of the $1,4 billion stolen from Bybit
Experts say they are distributing tokens across hundreds of wallets to make it difficult to track movements
03.03.2025 - 12:55
521
2 min
0
What’s new? IS firm PeckShield estimates that as of March 1, hackers have laundered 280 600 Ethereum (ETH) coins worth $660 million stolen from centralized crypto exchange (CEX) Bybit. This amount represents about 57% of the funds the exchange lost in the February 21 attack.
What else is known? The malware attack on Bybit is currently considered the largest single theft in history. At the time it occurred, the value of cryptocurrencies stolen from Bybit was $1,46 billion.
According to the FBI, as well as cryptocurrency security experts such as Elliptic and an anonymous researcher under the nickname ZachXBT, North Korean hackers from the Lazarus group are behind it, directing the stolen funds to finance the government’s weapons program.
This conclusion was based on the cryptocurrency laundering tactics that the hackers began to implement after the hack. It was typical of Lazarus and involved several steps, including converting tokens into bitcoins and ETH to avoid being frozen, distributing them to hundreds of wallets, and sending them to cross-chain protocols, crypto mixers, and decentralized exchanges (DEX) to make it difficult to track their movements.
PeckShield noted that in just February, the crypto industry lost $1,5 billion in hacks, the worst result in its history. While the hackers have laundered more than half of the assets stolen from Bybit, they still hold 218 750 ETH worth $514,3 million in the wallet.
Late last month, FBI agents urged crypto companies to block transactions by Bybit hackers.
Useful material?
Telegram 
Twitter Incidents
In a single week, hackers went after PHP websites, the Railway cloud platform and a medical company, and experts started talking about a crisis that is only just beginning.
Oct 28, 2026
Incidents
In 104 minutes, the attacker emptied 1,404 addresses before validators halted the network and froze almost all of the loot.
Oct 19, 2026
Incidents
Developers warned of potential risks to bridges across the ecosystem and asked exchanges for assistance.
Jun 22, 2026
Incidents
The defendant helped move funds stolen through investment scams and earned at least $4 million for his role in the operation.
Jun 10, 2026
Incidents
The company is linking the incident to a compromised private key on a service wallet, rather than a smart contract exploit
May 22, 2026
Incidents
Following the incident, the project temporarily halted trading operations and node activity.
May 15, 2026
Cryptocurrency rates
-
Bitcoin
$77 760
BTC
-2.94%
-
Ethereum
$2 221.67
ETH
-4.33%
-
BNB Smart Chain
$703.41
BSC
-6.57%
-
Ripple
$1.42
XRP
+1.04%
-
TRON
$0.331415
TRX
+0.1%
-
Zcash
$1 243.79
ZEC
-0.72%
-
Dogecoin
$0.075505
DOGE
-3.5%
-
Cardano
$0.218269
ADA
+2.11%
-
Stellar XLM
$0.184461
XLM
+2.83%
-
Bitcoin Cash
$280.36
BCH
-0.05%