Crypto exchange Bybit was reportedly hacked last (21st) night, with around $1.47 billion worth of ETH and stETH stolen, immediately sparking outrage in the community. According to data from Arkham, the hacker converted the assets and made off with around $1.34 billion worth of ETH (499,395 ETH) and $42 million worth of cmETH (15,000 ETH), spreading the funds across 53 addresses.
The massive amount of ETH stolen from Bybit (the largest crypto heist in history) not only caused a panic withdrawal from Bybit, but also triggered panic selling and shorting of ETH in the market.
ETH price plunged from around $2,800 to a low of $2,616.72. As of now, ETH price has rebounded to $2,694.5, down 2.43% in the past 24 hours.
Zhu Su: Ethereum Finally Has a Narrative for a New Price High
Amidst the market panic, crypto trader John Brown tweeted this morning:
Every short position must eventually be covered, either:
- At a profit, as a cushion supporting the price decline, or
- At a loss, as fuel driving the price higher.
In contrast, not every long position must be sold in the future.
While Brown's tweet was not specifically about the Bybit hack, the founder of the now-bankrupt VC firm Three Arrows Capital, Zhu Su, directly quoted Brown's tweet and said:
ETH finally has a narrative for a new all-time high (Bybit short squeeze).
However, this statement seems to be made in a sarcastic tone. According to Coinglass data, the current Ethereum futures long-short ratio is not skewed (around 50:50 in the past 12 hours), and the funding rate is not showing a significant negative rate (indicating more shorts), so Zhu Su's "Bybit short squeeze narrative" does not hold true.
Furthermore, given the current weakness in the Ethereum ecosystem, the market really can't find a reason to push Ethereum's price higher, so Zhu Su may be sarcastically commenting that Ethereum finally has a "market-shocking" narrative.
Zhu Su Mocks Centralized Exchanges' Frequent Blowups
Additionally, after the Bybit hack, Zhu Su immediately posted a sarcastic tweet:
Finally received my FTX payout. The long 2.5 years is finally over, and I've got the money back. Just deposited it into Bybit, what should we long?
Interestingly, both FTX and Bybit are centralized exchanges, so Zhu Su seems to be implying that centralized exchanges often blow up.
