Last week, cryptocurrency exchange Bybit disclosed that hackers had stolen digital tokens valued at approximately $1.5 billion, marking the largest crypto heist to date, according to researchers. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou noted that the stolen crypto came from a "cold wallet," typically considered more secure as it is stored offline, primarily used for ether tokens.
According to blockchain research firm Elliptic, this breach exceeded the previous largest crypto theft, dubbing it "almost certainly the single largest known theft" in history.
The crypto industry has witnessed a string of thefts, raising concerns about the security of customer funds, with 2024 recording hacking proceeds exceeding $2 billion, marking the fourth consecutive year of breaches surpassing $1 billion.
Notable incidents in the industry include the $610 million theft from Poly Network in August 2021, which saw most funds returned by the hackers. Another involved hackers pilfering $540 million in cryptocurrency from a blockchain project linked to the popular online game Axie Infinity in March 2022.
One of the earliest major crypto hacks involved the theft of nearly $500 million in bitcoin from the Mt.Gox exchange in Tokyo between 2011 and 2014, which led to the exchange's bankruptcy, leaving thousands of customers without access to their funds.
In the most recent events, DeFi platform Wormhole suffered a $320 million heist last month, during which hackers took 120,000 digital tokens linked to the second-largest cryptocurrency, ether. The crypto division of Chicago-based Jump Trading, which had previously acquired Wormhole's developer, reimbursed the stolen funds as part of their commitment to supporting Wormhole's ongoing development efforts.