Crypto Exchange Bybit Freezes $42.89M in Illicit Funds; Solana Token Blocked

Bybit, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has taken swift action to freeze $42.89 million in illicit funds in a single day, with the help of multiple industry partners. This collaborative effort has successfully halted a significant crypto fraud scheme and blocked a $26 million meme token laundering operation.

The successful freezing of the illicit funds was achieved through a joint effort involving Tether, THORChain, ChangeNOW, FixedFloat, Avalanche Ecosystem, CoinEx, Bitget, and Circle. Each partner played a crucial role in locating and freezing the suspicious funds. Tether marked an address, leading to the freezing of 181,000 USDT, while THORChain implemented a blacklist prevention mechanism. ChangeNOW managed to freeze 34 ETH, and FixedFloat stopped 120,000 USDC and USDT from being accessed.

The combined actions of Avalanche Ecosystem and CoinEx included blocking the blacklist, with Avalanche freezing 0.38755 BTC and CoinEx freezing 84 USDT. Circle provided essential information and connections that proved vital to the operations. Bybit praised these entities for their quick and immediate responses, highlighting the importance of such collaborations in maintaining security within the crypto field.

In a separate incident, the "Bybit Exploiter" entity moved 60 SOL from one address to another, deploying a new meme token called "QinShihuang" with 500,000 tokens available. The new token gained rapid popularity and traded beyond $26 million in value. However, thanks to the prompt reaction of Lily Liu, who leads the Solana Foundation, and members of the Pumpfun team, the suspicious Solana-based token was blocked and removed before hackers could exploit the ecosystem further.

The incident underscores the escalating threats in the crypto sphere and the necessity for nationwide cooperation between industry members. Bybit's combined forces with its partners demonstrate that early intervention can effectively disrupt criminal activities and secure digital wealth markets. Ongoing collaboration and strict vigilance are essential to maintain security and trust within the crypto realm.