- Bybit CEO Ben Zhou confirms 88.87% of Lazarus Group’s $1.4B theft remains traceable.
- The hackers swapped most of the stolen ETH into 12,836 BTC, spreading it across 9,117 wallets.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou has revealed on Thursday that 88.87% of the $1.4 billion stolen from the exchange remains traceable, despite efforts by North Korea’s Lazarus Group to obscure the funds using Bitcoin mixers.
The stolen assets, including 500K ETH, were mostly converted into 12,836 BTC and spread across 9,117 wallets. Zhou, sharing a detailed breakdown on X, noted that 3.54% of the stolen funds have already been frozen, while 7.59% have vanished into the dark web. However, investigators believe much of the stolen crypto can still be recovered.
According to Zhou, 86.29% of the stolen assets—around 440,091 ETH worth $1.23 billion—swapped for Bitcoin and distributed across thousands of wallets. The hackers quickly moved the funds through mixers like Wasabi, CryptoMixer, Railgun, and Tornado Cash to evade tracking. At least the hackers funneled at least 193 BTC into Wasabi before dispersing it to peer-to-peer vendors.
Bybit Hack: Tracking Efforts and Bounty Hunter Involvement
The attack which took place on February 21, was the largest in crypto history, surpassing the $600 million Poly Network hack in 2021. Despite the hackers’ attempts to cover their tracks, blockchain security firms, including Arkham Intelligence, have identified Lazarus Group as the primary suspect.
In a March 20 update, Zhou emphasized the challenge of decoding transactions processed through mixers. He also encouraged bounty hunters to assist in tracking the funds. Revealing that Bybit has received over 5,000 bounty reports, with 63 proving valid.
The hackers laundered a significant portion of the funds through decentralized protocols like THORChain within 10 days. But security experts remain hopeful about freezing and recovering more assets.
This breach highlights the vulnerability of even the most secure exchanges and underscores the growing need for enhanced blockchain security measures.
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