Restore the key strategies implemented by the mETH Protocol during the Bybit incident, get ahead of the latest technical upgrades and ecological construction plans, and address the security pain points that users care about the most.
Teacher Zolo's Question: Crisis Response Record (Building Trust)
- "Event Review" User's First Question: What exactly did mETH do during the Bybit incident?
This incident is indeed one of the largest security events in the history of the crypto industry. On February 21, 2025, a security vulnerability occurred at the Bybit exchange, where the hacker attack targeted the cold wallet primarily storing ETH, including some assets such as mETH and cmETH. However, it is important to emphasize that the mETH protocol itself was not attacked; this incident occurred within the Bybit exchange, and our protocol was not affected. mETH and cmETH remain secure, and we assisted Bybit in recovering the assets.
Specific measures taken:
8,000 mETH were extracted by the attacker and exchanged for ETH in three transactions on DEX.
15,000 cmETH were also attempted to be withdrawn, but the 8-hour withdrawal delay mechanism built into the mETH protocol played a crucial role in successfully preventing the hacker from completing the withdrawal.
Thanks to this security mechanism, we gained sufficient response time, ultimately ensuring that the 15,000 cmETH were successfully recovered, and mETH assets did not suffer permanent loss.
Cross-platform joint defense:
This incident showcased the collaborative power of the blockchain security ecosystem, with multiple teams and tools playing key roles in the incident handling:
SEAL911 provided security incident consulting and tactical support.
Hexagate (Chainalysis) & Blocksec conducted real-time on-chain monitoring and provided data analysis.
CISO Mudit Gupta and the security team from Polygon recognized this as the fastest asset recovery action in the Bybit incident.
Veda (the infrastructure partner of cmETH) was on standby 24/7 throughout the process, promptly marking suspicious fund flows.
Etherscan & Arkham Intelligence provided real-time fund visualization tools, allowing us to track fund flows more accurately.
The collaboration of these partners enabled us to complete fund recovery in a very short time and provided important experience for future security practices.
- "Efficiency Focus" How did mETH freeze abnormal assets within 48 hours?
mETH's specific response strategy:
The 8-hour withdrawal delay mechanism was activated: this security feature successfully prevented the immediate transfer of 15,000 cmETH, giving us critical response time.
During this crucial 8 hours, we took the following actions to ensure maximum protection for the mETH protocol:
On February 22 at 2 AM, we suspended cmETH withdrawals: after confirming the attack, we immediately suspended withdrawals to ensure no further asset loss.
At the same time, we reduced cmETH liquidity on Mantle L2: minimizing exposure to potential secondary risks. During these actions, we also collaborated with the security team SEAL911 and our partner Veda to assist in locating the hacker's address.
Around 4 AM, we blacklisted the attacker's address: listing the hacker's address to prevent further operations.
Manually executing smart contracts to recover assets: due to the suspension of some automated infrastructure (such as Safe), we manually called contracts through Etherscan, successfully recovering 15,000 cmETH.
After confirming the hacker and executing the recovery, we restored the normal operation of the mETH protocol at 5:46 PM.
Generally, centralized exchanges may take 3 days or longer to confirm and freeze funds in similar incidents. However, we completed core responses in just 2 hours and resolved the issue entirely within 48 hours. This is the advantage of decentralized security mechanisms; we rely on on-chain transparency and the control of smart contracts, making us more efficient than traditional solutions.
Teacher Chen Mo's Question: Security Architecture Breakdown (Eliminating Doubts)
- "Soul-Searching Question" If hackers upgrade their attack methods, can the mETH defense system withstand it?
Our security system is dynamically upgraded. Not only for this incident, but if attack methods become more advanced in the future, we will also have stronger response capabilities. We have begun collaborating with many professional security teams to carry out a series of security upgrades and detections. Through this AMA, we also want to share AI threat prediction cases and publicly announce the official "Bug Bounty Program" for the first time:
The mETH defense system has three key upgrade directions:
Strengthening transaction signature security — Enhancing hardware wallet support & cross-verification mechanisms to prevent phishing attacks.
AI threat prediction — Using machine learning to analyze on-chain transaction patterns, identifying anomalies in advance, staying one step ahead of hackers. At the same time, reducing reliance on centralized multi-signatures.
Cross-platform smart circuit breaker — When a security incident occurs at an exchange, we can automatically limit withdrawals to prevent risk spread.
Bug Bounty Program — At the same time, we have partnered with Immunefi to launch a Bug Bounty program for mETH, with a maximum reward of 500k, hoping to incentivize community developers and white hats to ensure continuous optimization of the mETH protocol.
Teacher Mark's Question: Direction of Technical Evolution (Anchoring Expectations)
"Autonomous Evolution" Can the community participate in the iteration of mETH security strategies?
Our community users and COOK holders can directly participate in security governance:
We have introduced a "Crisis Simulation Voting" module in the DAO mechanism, allowing the community to decide together:
Whether to enable new security mechanisms
The best response strategy to hacker attacks
We are committed to maximum transparency, ensuring that our COOK Holders and the community have sufficient information and a voice in the security governance of the mETH Protocol.
Teacher Zolo's Question: Ecological Co-construction Plan (Stimulating Participation)
"Anti-Hacker Alliance" Will mETH open its security suite to other exchanges?
We are currently participating in Bybit's Bounty program.
Teacher Chen Mo's Question: Ultimate Trust Building (Emotional Resonance)
"Transparency Revolution" Is mETH willing to publicly disclose real-time security data dashboards?
"Value Declaration" When profits conflict with user safety, how does mETH choose?
Of course, we are advancing a real-time security data dashboard, which will clearly publish all our information and security detection details, providing the community and market with references so that users can check the security status of the mETH ecosystem at any time. The core functions of the dashboard include:
Blacklist & Risk Monitoring — Publishing all risk addresses for the community to query directly.
Withdrawal Delays & Transaction Interception Statistics — Transparently displaying how many suspicious transactions have been intercepted.
Vulnerability Fix Progress — The latest progress of the white hat hacker program, allowing the community to understand the security improvements of mETH.
Third-party Audit Certification:
- Transparency is the core value of DeFi, and we believe that only by making data public can the entire industry become safer. We have engaged independent security audit agencies and regularly publish security reports to ensure transparency.
- Safety always takes precedence, and profits yield to trust. As the issuer of staked assets, mETH always adheres to the principle of "not letting users bear risks that the protocol could have avoided." This means:
If a decision can increase profits but will reduce safety, we would rather not do it.
Even if TVL growth is limited, we will not sacrifice safety for short-term growth.
All key upgrades must undergo security audits.
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