Author: Fang Jiayao, Wall Street Insights

Globally renowned cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has suffered the largest hacker attack in history, with analysts estimating losses close to $1.5 billion, making it the biggest theft incident in the history of the cryptocurrency industry.

According to data from blockchain analysis firm Elliptic, this hacker attack has become the largest cryptocurrency theft incident ever, surpassing the $611 million theft suffered by Poly Network in 2021. Rob Behnke, co-founder and executive chairman of blockchain security company Halborn, even stated that this could be "the largest event ever, not just in the cryptocurrency field."

The attack occurred on an offline Ethereum wallet of Bybit, with blockchain analyst ZachXBT posting on Telegram that hackers transferred approximately $1.46 billion in assets from the wallet through a series of suspicious transactions. Research firm Arkham Intelligence also confirmed that about $1.4 billion flowed out of the exchange and posted on the X platform stating, "These funds have begun to be transferred to new addresses and have been sold."

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou also acknowledged the incident on the X platform on Friday. To address customer concerns, Zhou conducted a live stream, emphasizing the security of the exchange's funds and revealing that the platform has applied for bridge loans with partners, raising about 80% of the funds to cover the losses. Meanwhile, Bybit will attempt to recover the funds and take necessary legal action against the hackers.

In the live stream, Zhou assured users: "Your funds are safe, and our withdrawal channels remain open. After the hacker attack, the exchange has processed over 70% of withdrawal requests." He also stated that the exchange has not purchased any Ethereum to compensate for the stolen assets.

This hacker attack has had a significant impact on the cryptocurrency market. Once the incident was exposed, the price of Ethereum dropped by 6.7% on the same day, while Bitcoin fell nearly 3% from its high that day. Additionally, the "synthetic dollar" token USDe, popular among cryptocurrency traders, was also affected, briefly losing its 1:1 peg with the dollar, dropping to $0.98.

Founded in 2018, Bybit is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, with an average daily trading volume exceeding $36 billion. According to CoinMarketCap data, before the hacker incident, the platform's assets were approximately $16.2 billion, meaning the stolen Ethereum accounted for about 9% of its total assets.

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