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In a brazen heist, an unknown number of hackers have reportedly pulled off what may amount to the largest theft of cryptocurrency in history. In a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, crypto exchange Bybit revealed it had been the victim of the attack, which it called “sophisticated.” In a follow-up livestream, also hosted on the microblogging platform, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou revealed that the hackers had made off with approximately 401,346 Ethereum, a popular coin often seen as a primary alternative to Bitcoin. Translated to USD based on the exchange rate when the theft occurred, the hackers allegedly made off with the equivalent of $1.4 billion.
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Bybit detected unauthorized activity involving one of our ETH cold wallets. The incident occurred when our ETH multisig cold wallet executed a transfer to our warm wallet. Unfortunately, this transaction was manipulated through a sophisticated attack that masked the signing…
— Bybit (@Bybit_Official) February 21, 2025
The crypto was stolen from Bybit’s cold wallet, which refers to an offline storage location for private cryptocurrency keys, and moved into an internet-connected “warm” wallet owned by the attacker. Continuing to update on X, Zhou claimed that the Dubai-based Bybit is “solvent” and that all of its clients’ assets are backed. “We can cover the loss,” he concluded.
$1.4 billion Ethereum heist comes during a bullish period for crypto
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The heist comes at an ascendant time for cryptocurrency. President Donald Trump is throwing his weight behind the technology and has hired several crypto evangelists to prominent positions in his government. Most notably, he nominated crypto backer Paul Atkins to head the SEC. He also launched a controversial Trump memecoin prior to taking office.
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That, too, has been the victim of theft, with one woman suspected of stealing $800,000 worth of the Trump coin from an ex-boyfriend. Working alongside Trump is Elon Musk, a man well-known as a champion of the crypto community, who himself invests heavily in several coins. Most memorably, Musk is associated with the memecoin DOGE. Not coincidentally, DOGE is the name of the quasi-governmental department Musk now heads.
But this unprecedented heist is a reminder that cryptocurrency remains both a relatively new and unregulated type of digital asset. While the Bybit heist may be the largest crypto theft (and perhaps even the largest bank robbery in history), it is far from the first large-scale breach. In 2021, Poly Network was robbed for $600 million worth of crypto, and in 2022, blockchain platform Ronin was hit for $615 million in tokens.
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