Bybit Nears Recovery After Crypto Heist: Freezes $42.89 Million In Stolen Funds, Secures $1.23 Billion In ETH Through Whales And Loans

Bybit said on Sunday it froze $42.89 million of the hacked funds thanks to the efforts of multiple parties as the cryptocurrency exchange shores up its reserves after the shocking $1.4 billion exploit.

What Happened: Bybit announced via X that it was successful in restricting hackers’ ability to move the funds, a day after hackers stole over $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum ETH/USD and related tokens.

This was made possible due to the coordinated efforts of multiple teams including stablecoin issuers like Tether USDT/USD, Circle USDC/USD, the Avalanche ecosystem AVAX/USD, and cryptocurrency exchange Bitget, among others.

A coordinated effort led to the freezing of $42.89M in just one day. Thanks to the following teams for their swift action: @Tether_to: Flagged address and froze 181K USDT @THORChain: Blocked the blacklist @ChangeNOW_io: Froze 34 ETH @FixedFloat: Froze 120K USDC + USDT…
— Bybit (@Bybit_Official) February 23, 2025

Furthermore, the exchange thanked Lily Liu, President of the Solana SOL/USD Foundation, and meme coin launchpad Pump.fun for their “swift action” in blocking a Solana-based token whose creator might be affiliated with the group behind the Bybit exploit.

Thanks to @caLilyLiu and the @pumpdotfun team for taking swift action to block and remove a Solana-based token whose creator may be affiliated with hacker groups, ensuring the security of the ecosystem. This is a great example of proactive security in action
— Bybit (@Bybit_Official) February 23, 2025

See Also: Bitcoin ‘Early In Bull Market,’ Can Compete With Gold ETFs, Blockstream CEO Says

Meanwhile, the exchange has “nearly closed the gap” after receiving 446,870 ETH, worth $1.23 billion, through loans, whale deposits, and ETH purchases, according to Lookonchain.

Since being hacked, #Bybit has received ~446,870 $ETH($1.23B) through loans, whale deposits, and ETH purchases.#Bybit has nearly closed the gap. pic.twitter.com/0oz3ytLi4X
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 24, 2025

Why It Matters: The cryptocurrency market came in for a big jolt Friday after North Korea's infamous Lazarus Group allegedly hacked over a billion dollars worth of ETH from popular exchange Bybit, marking the biggest cryptocurrency heist ever recorded.

Following the hack, Bybit launched a recovery bounty program, offering up to 10% of the recovered funds as a reward to cybersecurity experts who assist in retrieving the stolen assets.

Bybit continues processing withdrawals, securing liquidity through a bridge loan covering 80% of the stolen Ethereum to ensure customers' funds remain safe.

Read Next: