Crypto Exchange Bybit Reports Hack, Analysts Estimate $1.5 Billion Loss

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit said Friday (Feb. 21) that a cyberattacker stole some of its holdings.

In its posts on X about the incident, the company did not say how much was taken.

Bloomberg reported Friday that analysts estimate the loss to total nearly $1.5 billion worth of tokens.

Rob Behnke, co-founder and executive chairman of blockchain security firm Halborn, told Bloomberg the hack was likely the “largest incident ever, not just crypto.”

Bybit said in a said in a post on X that the attacker was able to transfer some of the firm’s holdings to an unidentified address after gaining control of one of Bybit’s Ethereum (ETH) cold wallets when it was executing a transfer to one of its warm wallets.

Bybit detected unauthorized activity involving one of our ETH cold wallets. The incident occurred when our ETH multisig cold wallet executed a transfer to our warm wallet. Unfortunately, this transaction was manipulated through a sophisticated attack that masked the signing…

— Bybit (@Bybit_Official) February 21, 2025

The company’s security team is working with blockchain forensic experts to investigate the incident and trace the assets, according to the post.

“We want to assure our users and partners that all other Bybit cold wallets remain fully secure,” the post said. “All client funds are safe, and our operations continue as usual without any disruption.”

Later, Bybit reposted a post by Co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou that said: “Bybit is solvent even if this hack loss is not recovered, all of clients assets are 1 to 1 backed, we can cover the loss.”

Bybit is Solvent even if this hack loss is not recovered, all of clients assets are 1 to 1 backed, we can cover the loss.

— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) February 21, 2025

Bloomberg reported that Zhou said during a livestream on X that Bybit’s withdrawals were still open and that the exchange had processed over 70% of the withdrawal requests it received after the hack.

Bybit is one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, is headquartered in Dubai and is not available in the U.S., according to the report.

With about $16.2 billion in assets on its exchange before being hacked, the stolen tokens amounted to about 9% of its total assets, the report said.

Bloomberg reported later Friday that the prices of the two largest cryptocurrencies — bitcoin and ether — dipped as traders reacted to news of the hack at Bybit but remained within the range at which they have traded this month.

This news came about a month after Bybit said its Bybit Pay solution is live in Brazil and integrates with the Brazilian Pix instant payment system, enabling users to make payments in both fiat currency and cryptocurrency.

The news also came on the same day cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said that staff at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have agreed in principle to dismiss the agency’s enforcement case against it.