Bybit CEO Describes How Hackers Launder Stolen Ethereum Through Bitcoin Mixers

28-04-2025
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Ben Zhou, CEO of Bybit, has revealed how hackers used cryptocurrency mixers to launder $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum stolen from the exchange last month. In a March 20 update on the X platform, Zhou said that 193 BTC (equivalent to $16 million) of the stolen funds were transferred through the Wasabi Wallet before being distributed to various P2P trading providers.

Cryptocurrency Mixers Used
In addition to Wasabi, hackers have also leveraged other coin mixing platforms such as CryptoMixer, Railgun, and Tornado Cash to obscure the transaction trail. Zhou warned that the increased use of these tools will make it more difficult to recover stolen assets.

He emphasized:

"We believe this trend will continue to grow as more funds are moved through mixers. Decoding mixer transactions is the biggest challenge we are facing. If you can help, please get in touch."

Cryptocurrency mixers allow users to conceal the origin of their assets by mixing them with other transactions on the blockchain. While these tools serve the privacy needs of legitimate users, they are also used by cybercriminals to launder money and conceal illegal activity. For this reason, platforms like Tornado Cash have been sanctioned by regulators for their involvement in money laundering.

Stolen Assets Are Still Traceable
While hackers are actively laundering money, the majority of stolen assets are still traceable. According to Zhou, 88.87% of the 500,000 ETH stolen (equivalent to $1.5 billion) are still traceable, while 7.59% are untraceable and 3.54% are frozen.

Zhou also revealed that 440,091 ETH, worth about $1.23 billion, was converted to 12,836 BTC and dispersed across 9,117 different wallets.

In an effort to recover the assets, Bybit has received 5,012 bounty reports over the past month, but only 63 of them provided actionable intelligence. Zhou called for more security experts to help track down funds laundered through cryptocurrency mixers.

Impact on Bybit After the Attack
Despite the attack, Bybit continues to operate but has been significantly impacted. On-chain data shows that the exchange’s market share plummeted from nearly 20% on February 21 to around 5% on March 2. However, according to data from Kaiko, Bybit has gradually recovered, increasing its market share to 10% on March 19.

With the rise of cryptocurrency mixers and challenges in tracing stolen assets, Bybit continues to face one of the biggest cybersecurity battles in the history of the cryptocurrency industry.