Last week, Bybit, which had $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum stolen due to an attack by a group of hackers, announced that it will reward those who can assist in tracking, identifying, and freezing the funds with $140 million. Ben Zhou, Co-Founder and CEO of Bybit, announced on his official X account that rewards will be given to those who help find the stolen Ethereum (ETH) assets. According to the statement on the official website, anyone who locates any portion of the funds and the organization that freezes them will receive a 5% share each.

WHAT HAPPENED?
On Friday, February 20, 2025, 401,346 ETH was stolen from an offline wallet of the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit during a sophisticated cyber attack. At the time of the incident, this amount was equivalent to $1.4 billion. This attack has been recorded as the largest crypto theft in history. Following investigations by cybersecurity experts, it was revealed that the North Korea-backed hacker group Lazarus was behind this theft.

WHO IS LAZARUS?
Lazarus Group is a hacker collective allegedly connected to the North Korean government. Established in 2009, this group gained attention through cyber espionage and cyber warfare activities. Lazarus, which uses various methods such as security vulnerabilities, phishing attacks, malware, and backdoors, has targeted numerous major companies and institutions worldwide. In 2014, Lazarus garnered attention with a major cyber attack on Sony Pictures, where the company’s sensitive financial information, customers’ personal data, and unreleased films were seized. The same group was identified as the culprit in the 2016 Bangladeshi Central Bank cyber heist, considered one of the largest bank robberies in history, where $81 million was stolen.

ZHOU DECLARES WAR ON CYBERCRIMINALS
Bybit’s CEO Zhou emphasized that they will not back down in the fight against individuals and groups involved in cybercrimes like cryptocurrency theft. In a written statement, Zhou mentioned, “We will not stop until Lazarus or other bad actors in the industry are eliminated,” and further added that rewards may also be distributed in the future to secure the assets of other individuals and institutions targeted by Lazarus.

OVER $4 MILLION ALREADY REWARDED
According to reliable industry sources, Bybit has already paid $4,230,000 to five bounty hunters who have assisted them. A simple calculation indicates that this amount signifies 3% of Bybit’s stolen funds being detected.