Less than a week after cybercriminals drained over $1.4 billion from Bybit, the crypto exchange’s co-founder and CEO has vowed to fight back against those responsible.
On Feb. 25, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou took to X to rally users in a “war against Lazarus,” referring to the North Korea-linked hacking group that orchestrated the attack on Feb. 21. To aid in the recovery effort, Zhou introduced a bounty website, offering a 5% reward to those who freeze unlawfully transferred assets. However, the site also states that “successful interceptions” will receive a 10% bounty—potentially amounting to $140 million.
“We have assigned a dedicated team to maintain and update this platform, and we won’t stop until Lazarus and other bad actors in the industry are eradicated,” Zhou asserted. “In the future, we plan to extend this initiative to other victims of Lazarus as well.”
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT identified Lazarus as the group behind the Feb. 21 breach, which led to the theft of liquid-staked Ether (stETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH), and other ERC-20 tokens. Bybit assured users on Feb. 23 that it had fully replaced the stolen funds, stating that the exchange was once again “100% 1:1 on client assets.”
Crypto firms occasionally offer bounties to hackers in exchange for returning stolen assets, often to sidestep legal complications. However, Zhou’s aggressive stance against Lazarus could make Bybit a potential target for future attacks.
Decline in Crypto Hacks Since 2022
North Korean-affiliated hackers have been linked to over $3 billion in stolen crypto between 2017 and 2023. The Bybit breach now stands as the largest theft in the industry’s history, surpassing the $600 million Ronin Bridge exploit in 2022.
According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, more than $3 billion was stolen in 2024 through various crypto-related scams and exploits, with phishing attacks being the most damaging. However, the firm’s data suggests that the frequency of hacks and scams has been on a downward trend since 2022, tapering off by the end of 2024.
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