Ethereum (ETH) saw a notable 2.3% price increase over the past 24 hours, spurred by reports that crypto exchange Bybit has begun purchasing large amounts of ETH in the wake of the significant security breach of the last 48 hours.
The rise in ETH comes after Bybit, which recently suffered a $1.5 billion hack—allegedly carried out by North Korea’s Lazarus Group—deployed $100 million USDT into new wallets. According to data from Arkham Intelligence and reports by crypto journalist Colin Wu, Bybit allocated half of this sum, around $50 million USDT, to over-the-counter purchases of approximately 36,900 ETH. These newly acquired ETH were subsequently moved to addresses tagged as belonging to Bybit.
In a recent “ask me anything” session, Bybit’s CEO, Ben Zhou, aimed to reassure the community, stating that the company’s reserves “far exceed $1.5 billion.” Zhou also revealed that Bybit maintains a cold wallet holding nearly $3 billion in USDT, emphasizing the platform’s financial resilience despite the massive hack.
This substantial ETH acquisition appears to have restored some investor confidence, triggering ETH’s price uptick and reinforcing Bybit’s commitment to maintaining liquidity and platform stability.
Bybit Hacker Now 14th-Largest ETH Holder
The hacker behind the massive $1.5 billion Bybit breach now holds an estimated 489,000 ETH, valued at approximately $1.34 billion—equivalent to about 0.4% of Ethereum’s total supply. This staggering amount makes the attacker the 14th-largest ETH holder globally. However, despite controlling such a significant portion of ETH, the hacker may find it nearly impossible to use or liquidate the stolen funds.
Addresses linked to the hack are under intense scrutiny and have been blacklisted by major cryptocurrency exchanges. This proactive move by the industry has effectively isolated the stolen ETH, making it extremely difficult for the attacker to move or cash out the funds without detection.
Due to these strict monitoring measures, some analysts suggest that the 0.4% of ETH supply held by the hacker is effectively “out of circulation.” While the ETH technically still exists on-chain, its compromised status makes it unusable, at least through any legitimate or regulated channels.
Arkham Intelligence, and Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has officially linked the massive $1.5 billion Bybit hack to North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group, a state-sponsored hacking collective known for siphoning billions from the crypto industry. The group has built a reputation for exploiting security vulnerabilities and using sophisticated laundering tactics to funnel stolen funds into North Korea’s regime.
“We’ve labelled the thief’s addresses in our software, to help to prevent these funds from being cashed-out through any other exchanges,” said Tom Robinson, chief scientist at Elliptic, in an email to CNBC
Quick Facts:
- Ethereum’s price increased by over 2.3% in the last 24 hours, outperforming the broader crypto market.
- Bybit has allocated $100 million USDT for purchasing ETH following the significant security breach.
- The Bybit hackers, notorious Lazarus hacker group of North Korea now sits as the 14th largest Eth holders
