Bybit Theft: Half of Stolen Funds Now Untraceable
Three months after a massive crypto heist, nearly half of the $1.4 billion stolen from Bybit has disappeared.Blockchain analysis shows $644 million is now untraceable, thanks to mixing services.
Of the stolen funds, $693 million is still visible on the blockchain. However,$63 million has been frozen by exchanges and authorities. The remaining $644 million has been obscured, making it nearly impossible to track. Mixing services have played a key role in this.
Wasabi Wallet handled the largest chunk, laundering $247.5 million. eXch, a mixing service that supposedly shut down in April, processed $94.1 million. Smaller amounts went through Tornado Cash and Railgun.This highlights the challenges in recovering the funds. Mixing services scramble transactions,hiding their origins. This makes it hard for investigators to follow the money trail.
Wasabi Wallet processed the most, wiht $247.5 million.eXch, which claimed to close, laundered $94.1 million. Tornado Cash and Railgun.
Analysts worry about eXch’s continued operation. Despite claiming closure in April, it still functions via back-end APIs. This makes tracing funds nearly impossible.
Safe revealed that a North Korean group, TraderTraitor, was behind the theft. They hacked a Safe{Wallet} developer’s laptop, gaining access to Bybit’s funds. The breach happened in February when a fake “stock investment simulator” was downloaded onto the developer’s Mac.
