Bybit Freezes $42.89M of Hacked Funds, Thanks Tether, Circle, Avalanche, Bitget and More

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.

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit announced Sunday that it has frozen $42.89 million of the hacked funds with the help of several parties.

A day after hackers stole over $1.4 billion in Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and related tokens from Bybit, the exchange said it managed to restrict the hackers’ ability to move the funds, thanks to the coordinated efforts of multiple teams.

Stablecoin issuers Tether (CRYPTO: USDT) and Circle (NYSE:CRCL) played a key role, as did the Avalanche (CRYPTO: AVAX) ecosystem and crypto 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 flagged address and froze 181K USDT

- THORChain blocked the blacklist

- ChangeNOW froze 34 ETH

- FixedFloat froze 120K USDC + USDT

The exchange also thanked Lily Liu, president of the Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) 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,” the exchange added in a separate tweet.

Meanwhile, the exchange has “nearly closed the gap” after receiving 446,870 ETH, or $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.

“Nearly closed the gap.”

What Happened: The cryptocurrency market was dealt a major blow Friday when North Korea's notorious Lazarus Group allegedly hacked over a billion dollars' worth of ETH from the popular exchange Bybit, in what could be the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.

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 to process withdrawals, having secured liquidity through a bridge loan covering 80% of the stolen Ethereum to ensure customers' funds remain safe.