More than 27% of the roughly $1.4 billion worth of crypto stolen from Bybit earlier this year has “gone dark,” according to the digital asset exchange’s chief executive.
Ben Zhao notes in a new update on the social media platform X that 68.57% of the hacked funds remain traceable and 3.84% have been frozen.
Hackers looted Bybit in February for nearly $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH) and Lido Staked Ether (stETH), representing the largest crypto theft ever and possibly the biggest heist in world history.
The blockchain research firm Elliptic, pseudonymous on-chain investigator ZachXBT and other researchers pinned the exploit on the Lazarus Group, a prolific North Korean cybercriminal outfit known for numerous high-profile hacks on major crypto platforms.
Zhao says the North Korean hackers have used crypto mixers and bridges to hide the stolen funds.
“After a certain amount of BTC was washed through Wasabi, a small portion of it entered CryptoMixer, Tornado Cash and Railgun. Then, multiple cross-chain and swap services were carried out through platforms such as Thorchain, eXch, Lombard, LiFi, Stargate, and SunSwap. Eventually, it entered OTC (over-the-counter) or P2P (peer-to-peer) fiat currency exchange services.”
One of the exchanges he mentioned, eXch, announced last week that it plans to close its doors in May after facing crypto-laundering allegations.
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