Bybit CEO Ben Zhou has provided an update on the largest crypto theft to date, which occurred on March 20. Zhou revealed that the total amount stolen reached $1.4 billion, which is equivalent to around 500,000 ETH. Of this, 68.57% remains traceable, 27.59% is currently untraceable, and 3.84% has been successfully frozen.
The Stolen Fund Movement Breakdown:
The untraceable portion of the funds was primarily funneled through mixers and then moved via cross-chain bridges to peer-to-peer and off-exchange platforms. Investigations indicate that the North Korean hacking group (DPRK) primarily utilized the Wasabi mixer. Afterward, smaller portions of BTC were routed through other privacy tools like CryptoMixer, Tornado Cash, and Railgun.
These stolen funds were then laundered across multiple apps, like Thorchain, eXch, Lombard, LiFi, Stargate, and SunSwap. Later on, the funds were sold out via OTC and P2P fiat crypto exchanges.
432,748 ETH (approx $1.21 billion) was converted from Ethereum to Bitcoin through Thorchain. Of this, 67.25% (342,975 ETH, or ~$960 million) was swapped for 10,003 BTC, which was spread across 35,772 wallets- averaging 0.28 BTC per wallet.
1.17% (5,991 ETH, or ~$16.77 million) remains on the Ethereum network in 12,490 wallets, averaging 0.48 ETH each.
When it comes to Bitcoin movement, out of the total BTC involved, 944 BTC (~$90.62 million, or 6.34%) was sent into the Wasabi mixer. From there, 531 BTC (equivalent to 18,206 ETH, or 3.57%) was moved back to Ethereum via Thorchain.
Over the last two months, authorities have received 5,443 intelligence reports, with only 70 confirmed as valid, prompting renewed calls for skilled bounty hunters to help crack the mixers and trace the funds.
Also Read: Bybit Shuts Down NFT, Inscription & IDO Platform Amid Market Downturn
