A significant portion of the $1.4 billion stolen in the Bybit hack, linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, has become untraceable, according to Bybit CEO Ben Zhou.
Around 27.59% of the stolen 500,000 ETH has gone dark due to laundering through crypto mixers like Wasabi and CryptoMixer and decentralized platforms such as Thorchain and eXch. Only 3.84% of the funds have been frozen, while 68.57% remain traceable.
Most of the stolen ETH—over 432,000—was converted into Bitcoin, with $960 million worth spread across 36,000 wallets to obscure tracks. Zhou emphasized the need for expert collaboration to trace these funds, noting the Lazarus Bounty initiative has only validated 70 of the 5,443 tips received.
Amid the fallout, privacy exchange eXch announced it would shut down on May 1 after being accused of laundering $35 million from the hack. The platform denied wrongdoing but cited a “hostile transatlantic operation” behind its closure. It also plans to launch a 50 BTC fund to support privacy-focused crypto projects.
In the aftermath of the hack, Bybit has since frozen remaining assets, partnered with investigators, and offered a 10% bounty for recovery efforts. The exchange maintained full solvency, processing 99.99% of withdrawal requests.
Image Credit: Pixabay
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