Key Points
- The laundered funds represent 18% of the total 499,000 ETH amount.
- Bybit's operations are back to normal and the exchange returned the 40,000 ETH loan to Bitget.
On-chain data has been tracking the funds stolen from the Bybit crypto exchange during the February 21 hack. Meanwhile, the exchange announced they are close to 100% on ETH reserves, and paid back the 40,000 ETH loan to Bitget.
Bybit Hackers Laundered 18% of Stolen Funds
On-chain data revealed that the Bybit hackers had laundered 89,500 ETH worth $224 million at the time of the official post by EmberCN in the past two and a half days. The amount represents 18% of the total stolen funds of 499,000 ETH.
Hackers expect to exchange the remaining funds for other assets within half a month, according to the same notes. Also, currently, hackers' cross-chain asset exchanges are mainly carried out via THORChain.
Yesterday, Arkham said that hackers have been making 2-3 transactions per minute and stopped every 45 minutes for a break.
Earlier today, Bybit's CEO, Ben Zhou, revealed that the exchange will release something to help them and the industry fight hackers and tackle fund recovery problems.
Meanwhile, the Chainflip cross-chain bridge announced it will prevent the illegal flow of Bybit hacker funds via protocol updates.
Chainflip's Upgrade Blocks Fund Flows
In an X announcement on February 24, Chainflip revealed its plan to enable interfaces to block the illicit flows in the protocol. The upgraded version of the protocol is expected to launch in the next 24-72 hours.
The 1.7.10 rollout will include upgrades to the existing broker-level screening tools available to all broker operators.
According to the announcement, currently, brokers can reject incoming BTC deposits in case of high-risk transaction detection via screening tools. Rejected deposits are sent back directly to the refund address specified by the user.
With the upgrade, the feature will be extended to Ethereum and all ERC20 tokens.
Amidst multiple industry efforts, Bybit announced yesterday that the exchange was close to 100% on the ETH reserves, while deposits and withdrawals were back to normal. Also, the exchange sent back Bitget's loan.
Bitget CEO Confirms Bybit Returned Its Loan
Earlier today, the CEO of Bitget, Gracy Chen, confirmed in a post via X that the 40,000 ETH loaned to Bybit has been returned to Bitget without interest or collateral.
She also said that the recent incident showed the strength and solidarity of the crypt industry.
Last week, Bybit suffered the worst crypto hack in history during which bad actors stole almost $1.5 billion.
