Cryptocurrency firm Bybit says hackers stole $1.5bn of digital currency in potential record theft

The Dubai-based company’s founder told users that their funds were “safe” and that it would refund any of those affected

Hackers stole $1.5bn worth of digital currency from cryptocurrency firm Bybit in what could be the biggest crypto theft in history.

The Dubai-based company’s founder told users that their funds were “safe” and that it would refund any of those affected.

The hackers stole from Bybit’s Ethereum coin digital wallet. Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency by value after Bitcoin.

The ethereum cold wallet was the only one that was attacked and all other wallets of the exchange were unaffected, with withdrawals proceeding normally, chief executive Ben Zhou said in a post on X.

He said the money could be covered by the firm or by a loan from partners. Bybit holds $20bn in assets.

Bybit said the hackers exploited security features, then transferred the money to an unidentified address.

After the theft, the value of Ethereum fell by around four per cent on Friday, leaving it worth $2,641.41 per coin.

The scale of the theft would exceed a previous record, which was a $620m heist of Ethereum and USD Coin from the Ronin Network in 2022.

Bybit was founded in 2018. US President Donald Trump and former Paypal chief Peter Thiel were reportedly among its early investors.

Bybit says it has more than 60m users worldwide and offers access to various cryptocurrencies.

“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,” Zhou added.

The company said in a post on X that it had reported the case to authorities and that it was working “quickly and extensively” to identify the hackers.

Cryptocurrencies, which have become popular with investors, have sparked division as many criticsze their value for being based purely on speculation, allowing their value to be easily manipulated.

Most recently, Donald Trump has been criticised for launching his own digital coin while saying he “doesn’t know much” about the cryptocurrency.

The digital coin called TRUMP appeared on his social media accounts ahead of his inauguration and quickly became one of the most valuable crypto coins, but has since fallen significantly in value.