Bybit hackers have completed the laundering of 499,000 ETH lifted from the exchange, in the biggest hack in crypto history.
The entire laundering process took 10 days and directly led to the Ethereum Price dropping by 23% ($2,780 to $2,130)
THORChain, the main channel used by hackers to launder the money, racked up $5.9 billion in transaction volume and $5.5 million in handling fees due to hackers’ activities.
Ben Zhou, Bybit CEO, reacted to the development by giving a detailed breakdown of the Bybit hack saga.
He stated that 77% of the stolen ETH is still traceable, 20% has gone dark, while 3% has been frozen.
The hackers used over 6,954 wallets to convert 83% of the stolen ETH to BTC.
He concluded that since the search for the stolen funds had started, 11 bounty hunters had received $2.2 million.
Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed that the hackers were the dreaded Lazarus Group from North Korea. The Bureau launched a recovery program to help Bybit recover the lost funds.
Sophisticated Laundering Mechanism
The Bybit hackers, likely North Korea’s Lazarus Group, used a fast, multi-layered approach to launder $1.5 billion in stolen Ethereum.
They began by converting liquid-staked tokens (e.g., stETH) into ETH via decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to avoid freezes, then split the funds across thousands of wallets.
THORChain, a cross-chain protocol, was their primary tool. They reportedly laundered 499,000 ETH in 10 days, processing $5.9 billion in volume.
They also swapped ETH for Bitcoin (BTC) and Dai (DAI) using bridges like Chainflip, bypassing mixers like Tornado Cash due to heightened scrutiny.
The team added layers of confusion using PumpFun, a Solana memecoin platform, where they created tokens like “QinShihuang,” inflating their value before trading for clean assets.
TRM Labs said over $400 million had been laundered by late February, with the full amount reportedly washed by March 4, 2025.
Funds moved through non-KYC DEXs and anonymous exchanges like eXch, with BTC likely prepped for fiat via OTC networks.
This rapid, high-volume strategy overwhelmed trackers, shifting from slower methods and cementing the heist as crypto’s largest. Bybit could only recover $40 million despite their frantic efforts.
