Bybit Hack Update: 88% of Stolen $1.4B in Crypto Still Traceable Despite Lazarus Mixer Tactics
Bybit CEO reveals that 88.87% of the $1.4B stolen in the recent hack remains traceable, as investigators battle mixer obfuscation tied to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
Bybit Hack Update: Tracing the $1.4B Trail and Fighting North Korean Mixer Tactics
Bybit, one of the world’s leading crypto exchanges, is still hot on the trail of the attackers behind its massive $1.4 billion February hack. CEO Ben Zhou confirmed on March 20 via X (formerly Twitter) that 88.87% of the stolen funds remain traceable, a remarkable recovery lead despite increasingly sophisticated laundering techniques.
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According to Zhou, hackers managed to convert 86.29% of the loot — 440,091 ETH, valued at approximately $1.23 billion — into 12,836 BTC, spreading the funds across 9,117 Bitcoin wallets. Still, $550,000 worth of ETH remains traceable, while 7.59% has become untraceable and 3.54% has been successfully frozen.
The North Korea-linked Lazarus Group is suspected to be behind the attack. To obscure the fund trail, they employed a network of crypto mixers, including Wasabi Wallet, CryptoMixer, Railgun, and Tornado Cash, laundering funds before sending them to peer-to-peer vendors. This multi-layered process has presented serious hurdles to blockchain forensic analysts.
“We believe this trend will grow as more funds will go through mixers. Decoding mixer transactions is the number one challenge we face now. If you can help, please reach out,” wrote Zhou.
Bybit has taken an aggressive approach in response. Over the past 30 days, the platform received over 5,000 bounty submissions, with 63 validated leads. The exchange is encouraging white-hat hackers and researchers to join the effort by offering a 10% bounty on any recovered funds.
A dedicated website has also been launched by Bybit to monitor and display wallet activity linked to the breach. This transparency initiative aims to keep users and investigators informed in real time.
The hack — which exploited vulnerabilities in Bybit’s Ethereum cold wallets — has once again raised alarm bells about state-sponsored cybercrime. Analysts warn that laundered funds could potentially be used for illicit programs, including weapons development, further stressing the geopolitical implications of crypto-related attacks.
While Zhou’s update reveals a proactive and determined response by Bybit, the rise in mixer usage underscores the growing cat-and-mouse game between hackers and blockchain security teams.
As crypto adoption accelerates, so too does the urgency of robust defense strategies. The industry now faces not just financial loss, but national security risks tied to digital assets — a reality that demands global collaboration and technical innovation.
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