"Bybit CEO: $1B Stolen Assets Tracked, Hackers Launder $280M"

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou has confirmed that $1.07 billion, approximately 77% of the assets stolen in the exchange's recent $1.4 billion security breach, can still be tracked. In a March 4 update, Zhou disclosed that hackers successfully laundered $280 million, around 20% of the 499,000 ETH stolen. Meanwhile, investigators have managed to freeze $42 million, accounting for 3% of the compromised funds.

Zhou stated that 11 independent bounty hunters were rewarded $2.1 million for helping to freeze stolen assets. Among the top contributors were Mantle, Paraswap, and blockchain investigator ZachXBT.

Zhou revealed that the attackers converted much of the stolen ETH into Bitcoin (BTC) through THORChain, a decentralized platform designed for cross-chain asset swaps. He stated that the hackers funneled around 83% of the stolen assets—equivalent to 417,348 ETH worth approximately $1 billion—into BTC. They then dispersed these funds across 6,954 wallets, with an average balance of 1.71 BTC per wallet.

This activity significantly boosted THORChain’s transaction volume in the last two weeks to more than $5.8 billion following the Bybit breach. Blockchain analyst EmberCN also reported that the platform earned roughly $5.5 million in fees from these transactions.

Blockchain security researcher Taylor Monahan criticized THORChain, claiming its structure enables criminal activities under the guise of decentralization. She argued that its system operates in an isolated ecosystem that benefits insiders and facilitates money laundering.

However, Zhou stated that the funds moved through the platform can still be traced. According to him, it will be critical to freeze the funds in the coming weeks before hackers attempt to cash out through centralized exchanges, over-the-counter (OTC) desks, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.

Meanwhile, Zhou also reported that the stolen assets were moved through other platforms, including ExCH and OKX Web3 Proxy. Zhou disclosed that 40,233 ETH—worth approximately $100 million—moved through OKX’s Web3 proxy. Of this amount, 16,680 E