Bybit News: Hacker Uses Bitcoin Mixers to Launder $1.4 Billion, 88.87% of Funds Traceable

A major security breach has hit the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, with a hacker managing to steal and launder a significant amount of funds using Bitcoin mixers. Here’s a closer look at what happened and the current status of the investigation.

Bybit Hack: Hacker Used Bitcoin Mixers to Launder $1.4B, 88.87% Funds Traceable

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou revealed that the hacker used Bitcoin mixers to cash out 500k Ether and about $1.4 billion in assets. Currently, investigators can track down 88.87% of stolen money, while 7.59% are untraceable and 3.54% have been frozen. A total of 440,091 ETH was converted into 12,836 BTC and dispersed across 9,117 wallets via BTC mixers. Bybit is calling for more bounty hunters to help decode BTC mixer transactions and recover stolen funds.

Crypto Money Laundering Trends and Bybit Hack

While cryptocurrency is gradually getting legalized, its use for money laundering persists. The recent Bybit hack has been linked to a significant money laundering operation, raising questions about the rise of crypto-based money laundering. BlackRock’s Larry Fink initially dismissed crypto but later embraced Bitcoin, with the company’s iShares Bitcoin Trust now holding over 570,000 BTC. According to Chainalysis, 2022 saw the peak evaluation of crypto used for crime, particularly for money laundering. The funds stolen from Bybit are still under investigation.