The Blubber

Bybit Suffers Record-Breaking $1.4 Billion Crypto Theft in “Sophisticated Attack”

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
February 21, 2025 – 10:00 AM PST

Crypto exchange Bybit announced Friday that a “sophisticated attack” resulted in the theft of 401,346 ethereum (ETH) from one of its offline wallets—a loss valued at $1.4 billion at the time of the breach.

Bybit’s CEO and co-founder, Ben Zhou, confirmed the staggering figure in a livestream, making it the largest known crypto heist in history. The attack surpasses previous record-breaking breaches, including the Ronin Network hack ($624 million) and the Poly Network breach ($611 million), according to data from crypto security tracker Rekt.

Potentially the Biggest Theft in History?

Crypto security firm Elliptic and independent researcher ZachXBT both verified the scale of the attack. Tom Robinson, co-founder and chief scientist at Elliptic, told TechCrunch that this may not just be the largest crypto theft but “the largest single theft of all time” across any sector.

For comparison, the largest recorded bank heist was the $1 billion withdrawal from the Central Bank of Iraq, according to financial news site World Finance.

How the Hack Happened

Zhou explained on X (formerly Twitter) that the hacker took control of one of Bybit’s cold wallets—a digital wallet designed to store cryptocurrency offline for security reasons. The attacker then transferred funds to a warm wallet, which is connected to the internet, allowing them to extract the stolen ETH.

Bybit Says It Can Absorb the Loss

When asked for comment, Bybit spokesperson Tony Au referred to Zhou’s public statements, where the CEO reassured users that Bybit remains solvent and is capable of covering the loss, even if the stolen funds are not recovered.