Author: 1912212.eth, Foresight News

On February 24, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou posted an update stating that "Bybit has fully compensated the ETH shortfall, and a new audited Proof of Reserves (POR) report will be released soon."

Previously, the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit had suffered a shocking hacker attack, losing as much as $140 million. According to monitoring by OnchainLens, the stolen native ETH and various derivative ETH totaled 514,723 tokens. This is one of the largest single hacking incidents in history, enough to make any cryptocurrency enthusiast recall past disastrous precedents - the 2014 Mt. Gox collapse, the 2022 FTX bankruptcy, or the $600 million theft from the Ronin Network in 2021. The FTX incident even triggered an industry earthquake, with multiple affiliated companies collapsing, and many Solana ecosystem protocols severely impacted, causing the cryptocurrency market to plummet to the bottom.

Surprisingly, the Bybit theft incident did not repeat the historical tragedy, and its negative impact on the entire cryptocurrency industry was far less than expected. After a series of withdrawal pressure tests, Bybit finally withstood the pressure, and on February 23, its deposits and withdrawals had fully returned to normal levels.

In just two or three days, Bybit was able to quickly turn the dire situation around. What was the reason?

Open, Rapid, and Transparent Crisis Response

In crisis management, time and transparency are often the keys to success or failure. Just 3 hours after the Bybit theft incident, CEO Ben Zhou published a detailed statement on X, acknowledging that hackers had breached the platform's ETH cold wallet through a vulnerability, resulting in a loss of $140 million. He also emphasized that customer funds were unaffected, withdrawal channels remained open, and assets outside the cold wallet were safe. Furthermore, Ben updated Twitter, stating that he would soon start a live stream to synchronize the progress of the attack incident and answer all questions in the live chat, admitting that the problem was caused by an overlooked issue with multi-signature transfer signing.

Faced with the constant withdrawal peaks, Ben did not choose to immediately suspend withdrawals, but instead openly and transparently stated that withdrawals would be opened normally. Around 1 am on February 22, the withdrawal peak had passed, and 70% of the withdrawals had been processed. This information was synchronized in real-time by Ben to the audience in the live stream, undoubtedly reassuring users. Around 9 am that day, Ben again synchronized the incident progress, with 99.99% of withdrawal requests processed.

In stark contrast, in the months before its collapse, FTX concealed the truth, ultimately leading to user withdrawals and complete bankruptcy; in 2014, Mt. Gox even took years to expose the problem after the theft, completely destroying the trust of the early Bitcoin community.

Ben Zhou's rapid and transparent actions on Twitter and in the live stream quickly won the initial trust of users and the market. Zhou not only publicly disclosed the technical details of the attack (such as the hacker exploiting a multi-signature vulnerability), but also promised to release a comprehensive audit report. This candid attitude effectively curbed the spread of rumors and avoided a vicious cycle of panic withdrawals.

Data shows that within 24 hours of the incident, Bybit's net withdrawals were only $700 million, far below its daily trading volume (about $5 billion). Compared to the daily outflow of billions of dollars during the FTX collapse, this figure is almost negligible.

Industry Collaboration to Provide Assistance

If Bybit's response was an internal firewall, then industry collaboration was the best embodiment of the external defense line. Less than 12 hours after the incident, multiple DeFi protocols and blockchain analysis companies quickly sprang into action. Tether, THORChain, ChangeNOW, FixedFloat, Avalanche Ecosystem, CoinEx, and Circle helped monitor and freeze funds, with some even adding the hacker's addresses to blacklists. Chainalysis also tracked the chain to lock down about $300 million in ETH that the hacker tried to transfer, and multiple data tracking platforms provided real-time updates on the progress of Bybit's stolen funds.

Furthermore, the exchange itself was quite united. Competitors such as Binance, OKX, Bitget, and Huobi HTX provided technical or financial assistance. On February 22, Binance and Bitget deposited over 50,000 ETH into Bybit's cold wallet.

According to monitoring by lookonchain on February 24, since the hacker attack, Bybit has obtained about 446,870 ETH (about $123 million) through loans, large-holder deposits, and purchases. Bybit is close to making up for the loss.

This kind of collaboration was almost unimaginable in the past. Reviewing the $600 million theft from Poly Network in 2021, although the hacker eventually returned most of the funds, the entire process relied on the hacker's conscience, and the industry lacked an effective collective response mechanism. After the Mt. Gox incident, the Bitcoin community even split into multiple factions, with accusations and infighting further complicating the recovery efforts.

Now, the maturity of the cryptocurrency industry is no longer comparable. The Web3 ecosystem in 2025 not only has more advanced technical tools (such as real-time on-chain monitoring), but has also formed a tighter community of shared interests. This unity not only limits the hacker's money laundering space - as of February 23, only about $100 million in ETH had been successfully transferred - but also sends a strong signal to the market: the industry has the ability to self-heal.

This resilience is crucial for investor confidence. Compared to the past, this collective defense capability has significantly reduced the systemic risk of the incident to the industry.

Improved Market Maturity and More Rational Investor Reactions

The market's reaction is a direct indicator of the impact of the event, and the consequences of the Bybit theft were far from "disastrous." On the day of the incident, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and various Altcoins did not experience a significant decline. ETH even saw two consecutive daily gains on February 22 and 23 after the Bybit theft.

In contrast, after the Mt. Gox theft in 2014, the Bitcoin price plummeted 50%, and the market took years to recover; the 2022 Ronin Network theft directly led to the near-collapse of the Axie Infinity ecosystem.

Why was the market so calm this time? First, investors' psychological expectations of hacking incidents have been significantly adjusted. Over the past decade, the cryptocurrency industry has experienced countless attacks, and hacking incidents have gradually become a normalized risk. Today's market participants - whether retail or institutional - are more rational and mature, tending to assess the specific impact of the event rather than blindly selling. Secondly, the diversification of the market structure has reduced the impact of a single event. The cryptocurrency market in 2025 is no longer as highly dependent on a few exchanges as in the early days, and even if a top platform like Bybit is affected, the market still has sufficient liquidity to buffer the impact.

Strong Financial Strength Cushioned the Shock

The risk-resistance of an exchange platform ultimately depends on its financial foundation, and Bybit has performed outstandingly in this regard. After the incident, Zhou announced that the platform still has full solvency, with customer assets backed 1:1, and has not used customer funds to fill the loss. In addition, Bybit quickly obtained a bridge loan to cover about 80% of the loss, and the remaining part will be covered by its own reserves and insurance.

Bybit's financial preparedness is not a coincidence. In recent years, as regulatory pressure has increased and user focus on security has risen, major exchanges have generally strengthened their risk management. Bybit had publicly disclosed its Proof of Reserves as early as 2024, showing its asset-liability ratio far exceeding the industry average. This transparent financial health status became a reassurance in the crisis. The exchange's capital and profitability levels allowed its hacking loss to be within a controllable range, giving users the confidence that it could "afford to pay," reducing withdrawal pressure and avoiding further escalation of the trust crisis.

Summary

The Bybit theft incident did not have the devastating impact on the cryptocurrency industry as in the past, thanks to the synergistic effect of multiple factors. Bybit's transparent crisis communication calmed user panic, industry collaboration demonstrated the resilience of the ecosystem, the maturity of the market kept investors rational, and Bybit's own financial strength provided a solid buffer. These factors together transformed a potential disaster into a manageable challenge.

More importantly, this incident may become a turning point in the industry's development. It exposed the potential vulnerabilities of multi-signature wallets, prompting technological upgrades; it also proved the value of collaboration and transparency, which may lead to the implementation of stricter industry standards. The crisis in February 2025 did not repeat the historical tragedy, but instead provided valuable experience for the future development of the cryptocurrency industry.