E-Paper
How will Bybit regain $1.5 billion stolen in world's largest crypto theft? Bounty hunters
Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit had recently become the victim of the world's largest-ever crypto theft worth $1.5 billion.
Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has announced a bounty hunter programme to track and regain the $1.5 billion (about ₹13,000 crore) in Etherium tokens that were stolen in a recent hack. According to reports, the hack was one of the world's largest-ever crypto thefts.
Bybit CEO and Co-founder Ben Zhou claimed North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un's crime ring Lazarus was behind the hack.
Also read: World's largest crypto theft reported at Bybit; ₹13,000-crore Ethereum stolen
The company has set a total bounty of $1.4 million under the program and according to the program's website, bounty worth over $4.22 million has already been awarded to 12 hunters.
“The bounty will be awarded immediately once the funds are confirmed as frozen. The total bounty is 10 per cent of the recovered funds,” the website of the program, named ‘Lazarusbounty’, reads.
A total of 5 per cent of the recovered funds, which is half of the overall bounty, will be distributed to the entity that successfully freezes the funds while the remaining will be awarded to those who help trace the funds.
About 90.22 per cent, or over $1.26 billion in stolen cryptocurrency is currently being tracked while a little over 3 per cent, or $42.33 million, has already been frozen.
“The stolen funds have been transferred to untraceable or freezeable destinations…or converted into stablecoins that can be frozen,” Lazarusbounty said.
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A contributor named ‘Mantle’ has so far frozen nearly $42 million in stolen crypto, earning an estimated bounty of nearly $2.1 million.
“We will not stop until Lazarus or bad actors in the industry are eliminated,” Zhou said, adding that the program will later be extended to other victims of the Lazarus hacking group too.
Dubai-based Bybit insists it is still liquid, its customer accounts are unaffected, and that it has enough funds on hand to cover transactions despite the theft.
Ethereum, the world's second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, has dropped over 12 per cent since the hack was reported.
