A crypto exchange has announced a record reward for assistance in the largest cyber heist in the history of the industry.
The reward could reach $140 million, but only in the case of a full refund, according to the Bybit website. On February 21, hackers withdrew 400 thousand Ethereum coins from the crypto exchange, which is equivalent to almost $1.5 billion. The coin’s rate fell by 5% on this news. The platform assures that there is no threat to clients’ wallets, as well as the functioning of the exchange. The stolen amount is about 8% of its reserves. Who and how withdrew a round sum from the exchange?
Many crypto enthusiasts joined the investigation even before the announcement of a reward of an immodest 10% of the stolen amount – such high-profile incidents are interesting in themselves. For example, the BitOK service for accounting, control and analysis of cryptocurrencies is now studying where the blockchain trail leads.
Experts associate the attack on Bybit with North Korean Lazarus. The group has long been hacking crypto exchanges. The hackers’ assets include the largest cyber raid until recently on Ronin Network in the spring of 2022. Then $600 million was stolen. And also the withdrawal of $250 million from the popular Indian crypto exchange WazirX – the most significant amount in 2024. The market is psychologically prepared for such attacks and should withstand, says the co-founder of the crypto platform Blum: “Most large exchanges, such as Bybit, Binance, OKX, Bitget and many others, have a safety fund to be able to pay users the funds stolen from the exchange. $1 million is a large amount, but it is replenished for a platform like Bybit, which is one of the three largest platforms in the world. I don’t think this will have a strong impact on the market itself, some local corrections are possible, but nothing more.”
