Hackers stole $1.5 billion from cryptocurrency exchange

Bybit announced that the attack did not affect customer assets on the platform and that users' accounts were safe. The company's CEO Ben Zhou said in a statement on his social media account, "Bybit is in a position to compensate for this loss. All customer assets are covered one-to-one, and we can cover the lost funds from our own resources or loans from our business partners."

Bybit, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, serves more than 60 million users. However, after the attack was announced, the exchange received more than 350,000 withdrawal requests, which caused delays in fund transactions.

According to the Guardian, the company stated that the attack occurred during an Ethereum transfer. While funds were being transferred from a cold wallet (a secure wallet without an internet connection) to a hot wallet (an online wallet used for daily transactions), hackers used security vulnerabilities to redirect Ethereum to an unknown address. CEO Zhou said that other wallets were not affected by the attack.

Following the news of the theft, the price of Ethereum dropped by nearly 4 percent. However, the market quickly recovered and returned to its previous levels.

Bybit has called for help from cybersecurity experts to recover the stolen funds. The company said it will work with top crypto analysts and security experts to investigate the attack. It also aims to incentivize those who help stop the hackers by offering a $140 million reward for finding about 10 percent of the stolen funds.

This incident, which caused a great impact on the cryptocurrency market, was a major blow to the sector. The market, which had recently entered a recovery period due to Donald Trump's re-election as a presidential candidate in the US and his promise of crypto-friendly policies, is experiencing a shake of confidence with such attacks.

It is not known who was behind the attack, but some experts believe the North Korean-linked Lazarus Group may be involved. The group has previously been in the news for major cyber heists, such as the $615 million attack on the Ronin Group.