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Today in crypto, an Ethereum core developer says rolling back the Ethereum network may not be the best solution. Bybit announced a bounty program to recover stolen funds after falling victim to the biggest hack in crypto history, with North Korean hackers stealing over $1.4 billion in assets.
Ethereum rollback deemed technically intractable; amid Bybit hack pressure
Despite growing calls from the crypto industry to roll back the Ethereum network to its pre-Feb. 21 state, before the Lazarus Group’s $1.5 billion hack on crypto exchange Bybit, Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko warns against the idea. He says such a move would be complex and carry significant consequences.
“It’s worth breaking down why this reasonably sounding proposal is technically intractable for less knowledgeable observers,” Beiko said in a Feb. 22 X post.
The Bybit hack on Feb. 21 happened after a transfer from the exchange’s multisig wallet to a warm wallet, which looked legitimate but had malicious code that altered the smart contract logic to steal funds.
“A compromised interface made it appear as though a transaction was doing one thing while it was actually doing another,” Beiko said. Crypto commentators have been advocating ever since for an Ethereum rollback to reverse the hack, invalidate the transactions, and recover Bybit’s funds.
Bybit announces bounty program to recover stolen funds
The Bybit exchange has announced a bounty program of up to 10% of the stolen funds, or roughly $140 million, to white hat hackers aiding in the return of the crypto seized by the infamous Lazarus hacker group.
Ben Zhou, CEO of Bybit, also said the centralized trading platform is exploring multiple avenues to recover the funds, including working with law enforcement officials and discussing further steps with Vitalik Buterin of the Ethereum Foundation.
As part of the massive outpouring of support from crypto industry firms and executives, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced that the stablecoin issuer froze 181,000 USDt.
The official announcement of a bounty program came amid the Lazarus Group moving crypto between dozens of wallets to launder the stolen funds.
Bybit withdrawals top $5.3B, but ‘reserves exceed liabilities’ — Hacken
Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has maintained reserves exceeding its liabilities despite suffering a $1.4 billion hack and an overall $5.3 billion decline in total assets, according to DefiLlama data.
The Feb. 21 hack marked the largest crypto theft in history, with attackers stealing more than $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether (STETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH), and other ERC-20 tokens.
Since the incident, the value of Bybit’s total assets has fallen by over $5.3 billion, including the $1.4 billion lost to the hack, DefiLlama data shows.