- Bybit launches bounty program offering up to $140 million for assistance in recovering $1.4 billion stolen funds.
- New bounty dashboard website implemented to track stolen funds and classify industry participants’ responses.
- Only 3% ($42 million) of stolen assets have been frozen by exchanges and platforms so far.
- North Korean Lazarus Group suspected of orchestrating the hack, continuing their pattern of major cryptocurrency thefts.
- Bybit has restored its ETH reserves through loans, deposits, and purchases following the security breach.
Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has launched an aggressive counter-offensive against Hackers who stole $1.4 billion in Ethereum and related tokens, establishing a comprehensive bounty program and monitoring dashboard to recover the stolen funds.
The exchange’s new Lazarus Bounty website represents an unprecedented approach to cryptocurrency theft recovery, offering rewards up to $140 million for information leading to the frozen or recovered assets. Ben Zhou, Bybit’s CEO, emphasized the initiative’s importance, stating: “In today’s blockchain landscape, transparency isn’t just a principle—it’s our most potent weapon against cybercrime.”
The platform implements a merit-based leaderboard system, collaborating with security chiefs from major blockchain networks to evaluate submitted leads. Notable responses have come from stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle, which the dashboard categorizes as “good” actors in the recovery effort.
According to Chainalysis data, the suspected perpetrator, North Korea‘s Lazarus Group, has been particularly active, accounting for $1.3 billion in cryptocurrency thefts in 2024 alone, up from $660 million in 2023.
Bybit, which processes over $6 billion in daily trading volume and attracts 26 million monthly visitors according to CoinGecko, has already addressed the immediate impact of the hack. The exchange confirmed it has restored its Ethereum reserves through a combination of loans, deposits, and market purchases, ensuring operational continuity for its users.
The incident marks a significant evolution in cryptocurrency security responses, with exchanges taking more proactive measures against digital theft. The recovery effort’s transparency through the public dashboard represents a new approach to involving the broader cryptocurrency community in security initiatives.
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