Crypto losses surge to $1.53 billion in February, Bybit hack leads way
Crypto losses surge to $1.53 billion in February
The cryptocurrency industry suffered staggering losses of $1.53 billion in February, marking a nearly 1,500% increase from the $98 million reported in January, as reported by the blockchain security firm CertiK.
The surge was driven primarily by a historic $1.4 billion exploit targeting crypto exchange Bybit, with additional losses stemming from hacks of Infini and zkLend, according to Crypto News.
Bybit hack breaks records, Lazarus Group suspected
The single largest breach occurred on February 21, when Bybit fell victim to what investigators attribute to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The cybercriminal syndicate allegedly siphoned $1.4 billion from the exchange, surpassing the $650 million Ronin Bridge hack in 2022—also linked to Lazarus.
Following the attack, the stolen funds were funneled through crypto mixers to obscure their origins. Analysts report that nearly all of the funds have now been laundered.
The second-largest attack took place on February 24, when stablecoin neobank Infini suffered a $49.5 million loss. Investigators found that a developer retained admin privileges after setting up the platform’s smart contract, later using these rights to transfer funds to a wallet connected to the crypto mixer Tornado Cash. Infini attempted to negotiate with the hacker, offering a 20% bounty for the return of the assets, but the funds remain unrecovered.
On February 12, Ethereum-based zkLend was exploited for $9.5 million. Like Infini, the platform offered a bounty, allowing the hacker to keep 10% in exchange for returning the rest. A recovery portal has been opened for affected users, but the stolen assets remain with the hacker.
In addition to major breaches, CertiK identified wallet compromises as the leading cause of losses in February, followed by vulnerabilities in smart contracts and phishing attacks.
Recently, Bybit fell victim to a daring cyberattack, resulting in the theft of 401,346 ETH (approximately $1.4 billion). This hack became the largest in crypto history, surpassing even the infamous Mt. Gox breach.
