Here is the English translation of the text, with the terms in <> retained as is: The transparent crisis communication has calmed user panic, industry collaboration has demonstrated the resilience of the ecosystem, the maturity of the market has kept investors rational, and Bybit's own financial strength has provided a solid buffer. Written by: 1912212.eth, Foresight News On February 24, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou posted an update stating that "Bybit has fully compensated for the ETH shortfall, and the new audited asset proof (POR) report will be released soon, please stay tuned." Previously, the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit had experienced a shocking hacker attack, resulting in a loss of up to $1.4 billion. 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 affected, causing the cryptocurrency market to plummet to the bottom. Surprisingly, Bybit's 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. What was the reason behind Bybit's rapid turnaround of the dire situation in just two to three days? Public, 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 $1.4 billion. 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 in the multi-signature transfer. Faced with the withdrawal peaks, Ben did not choose to suspend withdrawals immediately, but instead openly and transparently stated that withdrawals would be processed normally. Around 1 AM on February 22, the withdrawal peak had passed, and 70% of the withdrawal requests had been processed. This information was synchronized in real-time by Ben to the audience in the live stream, undoubtedly reassuring the users. Around 9 AM that day, Ben further updated the incident progress, stating that 99.99% of the withdrawal requests had been processed. In stark contrast, in the months before FTX's collapse in 2022, the platform 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 withdrawal was only $700 million, far lower than its daily trading volume (about $5 billion). Compared to the outflow of tens of billions of dollars per day during the FTX collapse, this figure is almost negligible. Industry Collaboration to the Rescue 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 the funds, with some even adding the addresses to blacklists. Chainalysis 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 community was remarkably united this time. 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, since the hacking attack, Bybit has obtained about 446,870 ETH (approximately $1.23 billion) through loans, large-holder deposits, and purchases. Bybit is close to compensating for the loss. This level of collaboration was almost unimaginable in the past. Reflecting on the 2021 Poly Network theft of $600 million, 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. Today, the maturity of the cryptocurrency industry is vastly different. The 2025 Web3 ecosystem not only has more advanced technological tools (such as real-time on-chain monitoring), but has also formed a tighter community of shared interests. This unity not only limits the hackers' 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 such incidents to the industry. Mature Market, More Rational Investor Reaction 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 2014 Mt. Gox theft, Bitcoin prices 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 events 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 market structure has reduced the impact of a single event. The 2025 cryptocurrency market is no longer as highly dependent on a few exchanges as it was in the early days, and even if a top platform like Bybit is affected, the market still has sufficient liquidity to buffer the impact. Solid Financial Strength Cushioned the Blow The risk-resistance capability of an exchange platform ultimately depends on its financial foundation, and Bybit has performed exceptionally in this regard. After the incident, Zhou announced that the platform still has full solvency, with customer assets backed 1:1, and that no user funds were used 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 was no accident. 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 reserve proof (Proof of Reserves) as early as 2024, showing its asset-liability ratio far exceeding the industry average. This transparent financial health status has become a reassurance in the crisis. The exchange's capital and profitability levels have kept the losses from the hacking incident within a controllable range, allowing it to "afford" the loss, 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 has calmed user panic, industry collaboration has demonstrated the resilience of the ecosystem, the maturity of the market has kept investors rational, and Bybit's own financial strength has provided a solid buffer. These factors have collectively transformed a potential disaster into a manageable challenge.

More importantly, this incident may become a turning point in the industry's development. It has exposed the potential vulnerabilities of multi-signature wallets, prompting technological upgrades; it has also proven 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.