The Bybit exploiter has laundered 100% of the stolen funds

The Bybit exploiter has laundered 100% of the stolen funds after staging the biggest hack in crypto history, but some of the funds may still be recoverable by blockchain security experts.

The exploiter behind the record-breaking Bybit hack has reportedly laundered 100% of the stolen funds, according to blockchain security firm Lookonchain.

On Feb. 21, Bybit was hacked for over $1.4 billion worth of liquid-staked Ether (STETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH) and other ERC-20 tokens, resulting in the biggest crypto theft in history.

The hacker has since moved all 500,000 stolen Ether (ETH), now valued at approximately $1.04 billion, primarily through the decentralized crosschain protocol THORChain, Lookonchain reported in a March 4 post on X:

1/ The hacker who stole $1.4B from Bybit has laundered 100% of the funds.

After the Bybit hack on Feb 21, hackers stole 500k ETH, 1.4B STETH, mETH and other ERC20 tokens.

Now, the hacker has moved nearly all ETH to THORChain. He began moving a portion of the stolen ETH to other chains through dSToken on Dec 19.

North Korea’s Lazarus Group has converted the stolen proceeds despite being identified as the main culprit behind the attack by multiple blockchain analytics firms, including Arkham Intelligence.

The news comes over two months after South Korean authorities sanctioned 15 North Koreans for allegedly generating funds for North Korea’s nuclear weapons development program through cryptocurrency heist and cyber theft.

Still, blockchain security experts are hopeful that a small portion of these funds can be frozen and recovered by the Bybit.

Some of Bybit’s stolen funds may be recoverable

Some of the laundered funds may still be traceable despite the asset swaps, according to Deddy Lavid, co-founder and CEO of blockchain security firm Cyvers:

“It's impressive how quickly they've managed to launder such a large sum. Usually, it takes a few months for hackers to launder a few hundred million dollars.”

“Rapid response is key once funds are deeply obfuscated, recovery becomes significantly harder. The main stolen fund prevention is mainly before or during the hack,” he added.

On March 4, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou confirmed that approximately 77% of the funds were traceable, but over $280 million of the stolen funds “has gone dark,” while 3% of the funds have been frozen.

Bybit has continued to honor customer withdrawals and had fully replaced the stolen $1.4 billion in Ether by Feb. 24, just three days after the attack.

Crypto security firms like Cyvers are working on pre-emptive measures to combat future attacks.

An emerging solution, known as offchain transaction validation, could prevent 99% of all crypto hacks and scams by preemptively simulating and validating blockchain transactions in an offchain environment, Michael Pearl, vice president of GTM strategy at Cyvers, told Cointelegraph.