Category: Crypto market

$43 Million Recovered from Bybit Hack

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

The Mantle, SEAL, and mETH teams have already assisted in recovering about $43 million in stolen funds from the Bybit hack, according to Polygon’s chief information security officer, Mudit Gupta.

The stablecoin issuer froze 181,000 USDt, and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino added that Bybit also announced a bounty program that would give up to 10 percent of the stolen funds—worth up to $140 million—to contributors who assist in recovering the stolen funds from the notorious hacking group.

Prominent industry leaders praised the exchange for its communication following the security incident and for allowing customers to request withdrawals in times of emergency.

The platform processed all pending withdrawals that caused congestion on the Bybit exchange following the hack.

Ben Zhou, CEO of the Bybit exchange, announced that withdrawals have resumed. The CEO also assured customers in a recent social media post that they could withdraw any amount from the exchange without any problems or delays.

Bybit, a cryptocurrency exchange, was breached with over $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether. Ben Zhou, the CEO, and co-founder of Bybit gave an update on the security vulnerability.

 

Zhou verified that a transfer had been performed from the exchange’s multi-signature wallet to a warm wallet.

The CEO claimed that the transaction was disguised to look authentic, but it contained malicious source code intended to change the wallet’s smart contract logic and embezzle money

Zhou assured customers that every other cold wallet was secure.

“Every withdrawal is typical. I’ll update you all as additional information becomes available. We would appreciate it if any team could assist us in tracking down the stolen funds.” He added

“Bybit is Solvent.” the Bybit CEO said, “Even if this hack loss is not recovered, we can cover the loss because all of the client’s assets are 1 to 1 backed.”

The incident comes amid high-profile security breaches and hacks that depleted cryptocurrency exchanges’ money in 2024 and early 2025.

The first few weeks of February 2025 saw a surge in hacking and scam-related activity in the cryptocurrency sector.

ByBit’s Ethereum Reserve Building Up Again

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

CryptoQuant, a crypto analytics platform, reports that Bybit’s Ethereum (ETH) reserves are recovering. Bybit’s Ethereum reserves fell from 443,691 to just 63,807 after Friday’s devastating $1.04 billion hack.

Bybit reserves have now increased to almost 160,000 ETH. Ben Zhou, the CEO of Bybit, stated that the well-known trading platform lost about 70% of its holdings because of the $1 trillion Ethereum hack.

The attacker executed the hack by hiding the signing interface and changing the smart contract logic. Anatoly Yakovenko, a co-founder of Solana, stated that people shouldn’t be examining transactions amid the hack on the crypto exchange.

Bybit is probably actively purchasing ETH from the market to increase user confidence. Additionally, Bybit has invested $140 million to find the money, which could result in some of it being returned.

These developments follow allegations that North Korea’s Lazarus Group gained access to Bybit’s cold wallets and pilfered $1.04 billion worth of Ethereum tokens.

Aside from its scope, this hack sparked worries about the security of cryptocurrency assets that exchanges kept in cold wallets.

According to CoinGecko data, the price of ETH has already recovered after the hack. After the hack, the token’s price fell to as low as $2,620 on Friday. Since then, though, it has nearly completely recovered its losses and is now trading at $2,813

Strategy Plans Buying More Bitcoin

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, might be preparing to buy Bitcoin in a big way again.  Strategy currently owns 478,740 Bitcoin, worth about over $45 billion.

The company’s co-founder, speculation surrounding this move grew following a subliminal hint posted on social media by Michael Saylor. Saylor posted a Bitcoin tracker on X (formerly Twitter) on February 23.

His cryptic message implied that the tracker did not reflect recent Bitcoin transactions. The cryptocurrency community immediately conjectured that the company was getting ready for another acquisition because he had previously shared charts that looked similar before significant Bitcoin acquisitions.

Some people theorize that it may spend up to $2 billion on Bitcoin In light of Strategy’s recent decision to raise money through convertible bonds.

These bonds, which are unsecured senior obligations with no interest but that can be converted into company stock, are anticipated to mature in March 2030. The “21/21 Plan,” which aims to raise $42 billion for Bitcoin investments, includes this capital raise.

Through the sale of equity and fixed-income securities, the company hopes to raise $21 billion and $21 billion, respectively. Strategy, formerly a software-focused company, is now the biggest corporate Bitcoin owner.

Its stock now appears in the Nasdaq-100 after its pivot greatly increased investor interest. The company acquired 7,633 Bitcoin for $742.04 million on February 10, its most recent Bitcoin acquisition.

 

Ripple Whale Dumps 40 Million XRP on Bybit

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

XRP has been heavily infused into the beleaguered exchange Bybit amid the horror of a major security breach.   A transaction involving the transfer of 40 million XRP from an undisclosed wallet to Bybit was brought to light by cryptocurrency influencer XRP Captain (@UniverseTwenty). This comes after one of the biggest cryptocurrency thefts ever, which saw Bybit lose $1.46 billion in digital assets due to a recent breach. XRP Captain posted a screenshot of a report from Watcher Guru that showed the exchange is taking loans to pay withdrawals, despite ByBit’s assurances to customers that everything was OK. Although the reason for this large transfer has not been made public, community rumors indicate that it is a loan to increase Bybit’s liquidity in the wake of the recent security breach. Others in the community went further, with one commentator speculating that this transfer was a loan from Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple. Ripple’s SEC case Bullish  “As predicted, like the rest of the SEC’s crypto-enforcement program, the SEC Coinbase case is dead,” said former SEC enforcement chief John Reed Stark, who emphasized the change on social media site X this week. “The SEC’s Ripple appeal is next on the chopping block,” he emphasized. Stark clarified that the agency’s decision to lessen its involvement in crypto enforcement indicated a more comprehensive change in its regulatory strategy and that further cases, such as the well-known Ripple appeal, would shortly be dropped. The agency’s change in tactics is part of a larger reorganization of its enforcement strategy, which also includes dismissing key players in crypto litigation and rebranding its crypto unit as a cyber unit. The established task force headed by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, dubbed “Crypto Mom,” assumes leadership of the agency’s direction, these actions imply that any enforcement actions about cryptocurrency may be placed on indefinite pause.  

Lazarus Group Steals Ethereum Worth $1.46 Billion

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

ZachXBT, a pseudonymous blockchain security expert, identifies the Lazarus Group, a notorious group of North Korean hackers, as the mastermind behind the $1.46 billion Bybit attack. A catastrophic attack on Bybit yesterday caused $1.46 billion worth of cryptocurrency to be lost from one of the exchange’s cold wallets.

 

Western intelligence agencies have collectively tagged the North Korean state-sponsored cryptocurrency hackers the Lazarus Group, among the most sophisticated on-chain operators in the world.

According to Chainalysis, they stole over $1.3 billion from different projects last year, accounting for 61% of all illicit cryptocurrency taken in 2024.

Lido Staked ETH (stETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH), and other ERC-20 tokens were among the tokens taken in the incident.

The attackers moved the $1.46 billion ERC-20 tokens from Bybit’s cold wallets to a hot wallet, according to Ben Zhou, the CEO and co-founder of Bybit.

On-chain data that connected activities to earlier attacks associated with Lazarus—a group linked to several other industry breaches and exploits—was used to establish the connection to Lazarus.

ZachXBT has assisted in solving numerous other crypto breaches in recent years and established the connection.

“His submission included a detailed analysis of test transactions and connected wallets used ahead of the exploit, as well as multiple forensics graphs and timing analyses,” Arkham wrote on X.

Arkham had issued a bounty, giving roughly $30,000 worth of ARKM tokens in exchange for identifying the culprit of the $1.4 billion attack that rocked Bybit early Friday and thereafter rocked the crypto market

 

Franklin Templeton Files For Solana ETF

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Franklin Templeton has been added to the list of asset managers seeking authorization for exchange-traded funds that follow Solana’s price.

 

The company declared that “The Fund seeks to reflect generally the performance of Solana.”

 Grayscale, Bitwise, Canary, 21Shares, and VanEck have filed for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in response to the performance of the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market valuation.

Solana was trading at roughly $172, a little more than  a day earlier. The smart contracts blockchain’s token has fallen more than 15% percent in the last week amid less interest in the meme market

 Investor interest in assets with a crypto emphasis is still high, despite the ongoing fallout from the spectacular success of spot Bitcoin funds.

Investor interest in assets with a crypto emphasis is still high, despite the ongoing fallout from the spectacular success of spot Bitcoin funds.

11 Bitcoin funds have received over $40 billion in net inflows within a year, which helped to pave the way for the July approval of ETFs that track the price of Ethereum.

The Templeton Crypto Index ETF (EZPZ), which tracks the price movements of Bitcoin, and Ethereum has already hit the market.

This action demonstrates asset managers’ increasing desire to provide investment products other than Bitcoin, particularly as regulatory circumstances improve.

 

SEC Waves White Flag against Coinbase

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has consented to drop its case against Coinbase, a centralized exchange claimed was acting as an unlicensed securities broker.

Coinbase announced before the lawsuit is formally dismissed, the dismissal is still pending approval by an SEC commissioner.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said:
“If this goes through, it’s a big deal, not just for us, but for the whole crypto industry, the 50 million Americans who hold crypto, and I think for the rest of the world because this is an important signal about where things are going.”

The SEC, under the leadership of former Chair Gary Gensler, claimed that Coinbase had failed to register its staking services with the financial watchdog.

 The SEC filed a lawsuit against Coinbase  in 2023, labeling certain cryptocurrencies “unregistered securities.”

The “staking” feature on the platform, which enables users to earn incentives by blocking their assets to confirm transactions on a blockchain, was also the subject of the complaint.

The cryptocurrency industry supports Coinbase’s assertion that cryptocurrencies do not meet the criteria for an investment contract, in contrast to stocks and bonds.

 The Nasdaq listed exchange criticized the SEC for taking the decision, claiming it was a regulatory overreach after approving the company’s public listing on US stock exchanges in 2021.

 The business started a political pressure campaign alongside Ripple that advocates for industry-friendly legislation with the U.S. government.

Bybit Hacked, $1.4 Billion Stolen

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Bybit, a cryptocurrency exchange, was breached with over $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether. Ben Zhou, the CEO, and co-founder of Bybit gave an update on the security vulnerability.

 

Zhou verified that a transfer had been performed from the exchange’s multi-signature wallet to a warm wallet.

The CEO claimed that the transaction was disguised to look authentic, but it contained malicious source code intended to change the wallet’s smart contract logic and embezzle money

Zhou assured customers that every other cold wallet was secure.

“Every withdrawal is typical. I’ll update you all as additional information becomes available. We would appreciate it if any team could assist us in tracking down the stolen funds.” He added

“Bybit is Solvent.” the Bybit CEO said, “Even if this hack loss is not recovered, we can cover the loss because all of the client’s assets are 1 to 1 backed.”

The incident comes amid high-profile security breaches and hacks that depleted cryptocurrency exchanges’ money in 2024 and early 2025.

The first few weeks of February 2025 saw a surge in hacking and scam-related activity in the cryptocurrency sector.