An hour ago, the centralized exchange Bybit confirmed a widespread hack where over $1.4 billion assets were stolen from its wallets, causing a drop in Ethereum (ETH) and other digital currencies. The majority of the stolen amount includes Ethereum and staked Ethereum (stETH) taken from Bybit’s hot wallets. The hackers likely aim to sell these assets through decentralized exchanges. Ben Zhou, the co-founder and CEO of Bybit, confirmed the attack in a post. He explained that unauthorized movement of Ethereum from their cold wallets occurred due to a UI spoofing attack. He added that by altering the logic of the smart contract of Ethereum cold wallets, the hacker could take control and transfer all ETH to an unknown address. It’s worth noting that this issue was first reported by the analyst ZachXBT, who identified suspicious outflows from the exchange’s wallets. However, Zhou emphasized that all other cold wallets are safe, and the withdrawal process from the exchange continues as usual. By confirming a $1.46 billion compensation payout at a 1:1 ratio, Zhou announced that the exchange still maintains financial strength. Following this incident, Ethereum’s price dropped by approximately 3% within an hour, reaching $2,727. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) also experienced a nearly 1% decline, dropping to $98,091.
