Bybit Offers $140M Bounty to Recover $1.4B in Stolen Crypto

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has launched a $140 million bounty program to recover $1.4 billion in stolen funds, offering up to 10% of the retrieved assets to ethical hackers and cybersecurity experts. This move aims to encourage specialists to help track and reclaim the stolen money.

So far, more than $43 million in digital assets has already been recovered through industry efforts. Among them, 15,000 cmETH (Mantle Restaked Ethereum), valued at around $43 million, was secured with the help of security teams from SEAL, Mantle, and Polygon. The recovery was possible due to a security gap in the protocol, which experts exploited to block the hacker’s access.

Bybit’s CEO, Ben Zhou, highlighted the strong response from the crypto community. Many specialists and organizations have stepped in to assist. Zhou emphasized that industry-wide cooperation is key in fighting cyber threats and promised improvements to Bybit’s security systems.

Bybit’s initiative includes rewarding those who provide useful intelligence or play a role in asset recovery. If all stolen funds are recovered, contributors could receive up to $140 million in rewards.

In addition, Tether has frozen $181,000 worth of USDT linked to the hack. While the amount is relatively small, Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, stressed that any action to limit financial losses is valuable.

The quick action by security teams has helped prevent further damage. Mantle’s team blocked the exploiter’s address using an eight-hour withdrawal delay, stopping unauthorized transactions.

Bybit remains committed to improving its security, increasing liquidity, and supporting the crypto community. The exchange sees this incident as a lesson and is determined to strengthen its protection against future attacks.