In a turn of events that would make even the most seasoned criminals raise an eyebrow, a *substantial* portion of the $1.4 billion in stolen cryptocurrency from Bybit’s hack has slipped through the cracks and is now untraceable. And, of course, it’s all thanks to a little help from North Korea’s Lazarus Group (seriously, who needs movies with plots like these?). Ben Zhou, the CEO of Bybit, spilled the beans in a tweet, giving us all the juicy details on the stolen funds—about 500,000 ETH, to be precise.
Turns out, a whopping 27.59% of the loot is playing the “where’d I go?” game, mostly due to crypto mixers and decentralized services making the whole thing as murky as a winter pond. But don’t get too sad, there’s still 68.57% of it out there… and it’s definitely not hanging out at your local coffee shop either. As for the remaining 3.84%, it’s been frozen like a popsicle in winter. Not too shabby!
Crypto Mixers, Swaps, and 36,000 Wallets: Oh My!
Ben Zhou pointed out that the main tool used for washing this stolen fortune was none other than the Wasabi Mixer. Yes, that’s right—the same tool you probably won’t find in your grandmother’s kitchen. The hackers didn’t stop there, though. Oh no, they took their crafty ways to CryptoMixer, Tornado Cash, and Railgun, just for fun. They also got cozy with decentralized cross-chain swap platforms like Thorchain, eXch, Lombard, LiFi, Stargate, and SunSwap, making sure their stolen crypto could jump across blockchains like a rabbit on a sugar high.
But wait, there’s more! According to Zhou’s report, a staggering 432,748 ETH, which is *84.45%* of the total stolen assets, was converted into Bitcoin via Thorchain. And in the ultimate twist, 342,975 ETH (worth about $960 million) was transformed into 10,003 BTC, distributed across a mind-boggling 36,000 wallets. Why? To make sure no one ever finds it. Classic move!
Despite all the surveillance and monitoring (oh, they tried!), only a small chunk of the stolen funds are still hanging out on the Ethereum blockchain. Meanwhile, 944 BTC (about $90.6 million) took a solo trip through Wasabi. Smooth.
On a lighter note, the Lazarus Bounty initiative, launched to capture these sneaky exploits, has been getting some attention. In fact, over the last two months, it’s received a grand total of 5,443 reports. Only 70 were deemed legit, though. So, if you’re thinking of starting your own career as a bounty hunter, you may want to sharpen those skills. Tracing this dark crypto flow is no easy feat, after all.
eXch Bows Out After Lazarus Accusations
Meanwhile, eXch, one of the platforms involved in this grand crypto laundering escapade, is waving goodbye. They’ve announced that they’ll be shutting down operations on May 1, after facing accusations of laundering a cool $35 million tied to the February Bybit hack. Naturally, they’re denying any intentional wrongdoing, claiming it was all a huge misunderstanding. Sure, guys. We’re buying that.
In the face of mounting international pressure and a so-called “hostile” environment (sounds like something out of a spy thriller), eXch is calling it quits. But, just before they leave the stage, they’ve decided to drop a 50 BTC fund to support privacy-focused crypto tools. How generous. Or maybe they just want to leave a little *something* behind. You decide.
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2025-04-22 09:35