TL;DR
- Bybit returned a loan of 40,000 Ethereum to Bitget, worth approximately $100 million, after the hack it suffered on February 21.
- The hack resulted in a loss of $1.5 billion in cryptocurrencies, but Bybit assured that its assets were safe and the exchange’s solvency was not compromised.
- Bybit received loans from Bitget and Binance to cover the deficit, while also acquiring large amounts of Ethereum from institutions such as Galaxy Digital and Wintermute to complete the recovery.
Bybit, one of the most well-known cryptocurrency exchanges, announced the repayment of a loan of 40,000 Ethereum (ETH) to Bitget, worth approximately $100 million.
The decision came just three days after Bybit suffered a massive hack, in which it lost $1.5 billion in cryptocurrencies due to a manipulation of a routine Ethereum transfer between its cold wallets.
It seems bybit just transferred 40K $ETH ($100M) back to bitget.
Bitget sent these $ETH 3 days ago as part of the loan deal to help cover bybit's ETH shortage.https://t.co/0fOKm3UDG6 pic.twitter.com/w2yiTeqTVJ
— lmk.fun 🦜 (Prev. Scopescan) (@lmkfun) February 25, 2025
The hack was detected quickly, and the company assured its clients that, despite the loss, the exchange’s solvency was guaranteed. Ben Zhou, CEO of Bybit, reassured users, stating that their assets were safe and the company continued to operate normally, although he warned of possible delays in withdrawals due to the increase in requests after the incident.
In an effort to cover the deficit and restore market confidence, Bybit received loans from other platforms, such as Bitget and Binance. The 40,000 ETH loan from Bitget was crucial to Bybit’s recovery. Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, assured that the transferred funds came from the platform’s own reserves and that they did not affect the assets of their users.
Bybit Has Covered the Hack Losses
Over the following days, Bybit continued with its recovery strategy, acquiring large amounts of Ethereum from institutions such as Galaxy Digital and Wintermute through over-the-counter transactions. The company also made an additional purchase of Ethereum worth $742 million between February 22 and 23. With these measures, the exchange managed to cover the gap left by the hack, as reported through on-chain data.
Despite the magnitude of the attack, Bybit committed to maintaining its stability, and Zhou highlighted that the swift response from its security team and collaboration with other industry entities showed the resilience of the sector in the face of challenges. The incident was also a demonstration of the maturity of the crypto market, with support from various platforms and security firms such as Chainalysis, which helped track the addresses associated with the attack.
