Key Takeaways:
CEO shares fresh insight into crypto fund tracing. Most stolen assets remain detectable on blockchain trails. Criminals use mixing services to hide fund movements. Recovery efforts involve coordinated work by security experts. The case invites deeper review of digital asset security.Bybit CEO Ben Zhou revealed on March 20 that 88.87% of the $1.4 billion stolen in the recent Bybit hack remained traceable, nearly a month after the security breach.
He noted that 7.59% of the funds had gone dark, while 3.54% had been frozen.
Zhou’s update follows ongoing efforts by the exchange and blockchain security firms to track and recover the stolen crypto assets.
Bybit Hack: Latest Developments on Stolen Funds
In a March 20 X post, Zhou shared the current status of the stolen funds, stating: “Total hacked funds of USD 1.4bn around 500k ETH. 88.87% remain traceable, 7.59% have gone dark, 3.54% have been frozen.”
This update comes two weeks after Bybit’s initial report, which claimed that 77% of the stolen Ethereum was still traceable.
Blockchain security firms, including Arkham Intelligence, have identified North Korea’s Lazarus Group as the likely perpetrator of the attack.
In the weeks following the hack, the cybercriminals moved and swapped the funds in attempts to evade tracking.
Lazarus Group Tactics and Crypto Recovery Efforts
Security analysts report that it took the Lazarus Group just 10 days to launder all the stolen Bybit funds through THORChain, a decentralized cross-chain protocol.
Zhou added that 86.29% of the stolen funds—equivalent to 440,091 ETH (~$1.23 billion)—were converted into 12,836 BTC and spread across 9,117 wallets.
To conceal their tracks, the attackers primarily relied on Bitcoin mixers, including Wasabi, CryptoMixer, Railgun, and Tornado Cash.
Despite these laundering tactics, efforts to trace and recover the assets have continued across the crypto industry.
Blockchain security experts remain hopeful that a portion of the funds can still be frozen and recovered.
Recovery attempts have united 12 different organizations, including Mantle, Paraswap, and blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
Bybit’s dedicated website continues to monitor wallet movements and provide updates to its users and investigators.
The exchange also promised a 10% reward on funds successfully retrieved by white hat hackers and blockchain investigators.
So far, bounty hunters have earned $2.2 million USDT for their assistance.
Bybit Case Highlights Crypto Industry’s History of Recovering Stolen Funds
The Bybit case is not the first time the crypto industry has mobilized to recover stolen funds.
In 2023, Jump Crypto reclaimed $140 million in tokens after countering the Wormhole protocol attacker.
Similarly, in early 2024, the U.S. government recovered over $2.6 million linked to Lazarus Group hacks on Deribit and a digital casino.
A United Nations panel later reported that up to 40% of the stolen funds are funneled into North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction program.
The Lazarus Group’s ongoing cryptocurrency heists have raised global security concerns.
In September 2024, the FBI warned about the group’s cyber tactics and potential impact on the blockchain industry.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Blockchain tracing leverages ledger transparency and data analysis to follow fund transfers. Experts correlate wallet activity with known entities, forming trails that indicate misuse and reveal money flow patterns.
Mixing services jumble transaction paths by blending funds from multiple users, making it harder to trace origins. They disrupt clear fund trails, forcing analysts to rely on patterns rather than direct links.
The incident sparks deeper examination of digital asset safeguards. It prompts experts to refine tracking techniques and improve system checks, urging a closer look at policy, technology, and collaborative oversight.
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