Bybit, a cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Friday that a hack involving a cold wallet resulted in the theft of 401,346 Ethereum, valued at approximately $1.4 billion.
Ben Zhou, the Chief Executive and co-founder, shared the news on X, clarifying that the breach affected only the Ethereum cold wallet, stating that the “warm wallet and all other cold wallets are secure.”
Zhou reassured users that Bybit remains solvent, indicating that even without recovering the stolen funds, all client assets are fully backed 1-to-1, allowing the exchange to cover the loss.
Tom Robinson, co-founder and chief scientist of the crypto security firm Elliptic, remarked on LinkedIn that this incident marks the largest crypto heist to date, with nearly $1.5 billion stolen from Bybit.
He further noted, “This could also be the largest single theft of any kind in history,” and emphasized that his company is actively assisting exchanges and law enforcement in tracing and freezing the stolen funds.
