Biggest cryptocurrency theft in history: Hackers steal $1.5 billion from Bybit

On February 21, 2025, cryptocurrency exchange platform Bybit suffered the largest cryptocurrency theft in history, losing nearly $1.5 billion in Ethereum. Hackers managed to breach one of its cold wallets, normally considered secure, by accessing the funds and dispersing them across multiple wallets to make them difficult to track. This way, when the money was out of the cold wallet and connected to a hot one, which is traded on the market, is when they managed to divert the funds. They transferred amounts of around 10,000 dollars to multiple wallets. Once the hack was done, they shut down and disappeared without a trace.

Preliminary FBI investigations link the attack to the Lazarus group, a North Korean government cybercriminal organization, which has executed similar thefts in the past to fund state activities.

The incident has led to a 4% drop in Ethereum's value and has intensified the debate over security on centralized exchanges. Bybit has offered rewards to recover the funds and is cooperating with authorities and cybersecurity experts to strengthen its protection systems.