Bybit suffered a significant hack with $1.4 billion in Ethereum looted, with the exploiter now attempting to bridge the ETH to BTC through the Chainflip protocol.
In a significant development, Bybit’s chief executive officer has disclosed that the hacker responsible for the $1.4 billion hack on the exchange is now attempting to move the stolen Ethereum to Bitcoin.
Bybit Hacker Moving Stolen Funds to Bitcoin
Notably, on Saturday, Bybit’s CEO, Ben Zhou, posted on X that some stolen funds are being transferred to Chainflip, a decentralized crypto bridge.
In addition, Zhou shared four transaction addresses linked to this movement. These include ‘0x4f5…8c5ef’; ‘0x1e7…ddfcc’; ‘0x3ff…4e6b2’ and ‘0xdc5…0446a.’
We are starting to see some funds being moved to https://t.co/O4AqIJo81z as bridge to convert to BTC: bc1qlu4a33zjspefa3tnq566xszcr0fvwz05ewhqfq
with below transactions:
0x4f5f7ba657bf518d383828183087978b452b99da6cde0c9b94739b8d72a8c5ef…— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) February 22, 2025
Similarly, Zhou called on crypto bridges and exchanges to block these transactions and prevent the hacker from converting the stolen assets.
“If you are a bridge, Please help us to block and prevent further conversion to other chains. We are going to release our bounty program very soon to whoever help us to block or trace the fund that result in fund recovery”
Meanwhile, some experts suggest that the hacker is likely trying to swap the stolen ETH for BTC to make it harder to trace.
Chainflip’s Response and Security Challenges
It is worth mentioning that Chainflip replied immediately after Zhou’s post, stating that while they have taken some action, they cannot completely block the hacker’s transactions.
For context, Since Chainflip is a fully decentralized protocol with 150 independent nodes, it does not have the power to freeze or redirect funds. However, they have disabled some front-end services to slow down the flow of stolen assets.
Similarly, Chainflip Labs also disclosed to their community on X that they are aware of the hacker’s attempt to move the stolen funds. As a long-term measure, they are working on stronger security screening for Ethereum transactions.
This is because they already have a BTC broker-level screening system that rejects suspicious deposits, and they plan to introduce a similar system for ETH soon.
While Bybit and Chainflip are taking steps to limit the hacker’s ability to cash out, the situation reveals the ongoing security risks in the cryptocurrency industry.
Meanwhile, in an earlier report, the Lazarus Group has been identified as the mastermind behind the Bybit hack. This North Korean-linked hacking group is known for some of the largest cryptocurrency exchange hacks and scams in recent months.
The Bybit breach alone resulted in the loss of over 401,346 ETH, valued at approximately $1.4 billion.
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