coindesk.com
Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has experienced $1.46 billion worth of "suspicious outflows," according to blockchain sleuth ZachXBT.
The wallet in question appears to have sent 401,346 $ETH ($1.1 billion) as well as several other iterations of staked ether (stETH) to a fresh wallet, which is now liquidating mETH and stETH on decentralized exchanges, etherscan shows. The wallet has sold around $200 million worth of stETH so far.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou wrote on X that a hacker "took control of the specific $ETH cold wallet and transferred all the $ETH in the cold wallet to this unidentified address."
"Please rest assured that all other cold wallets are secure. All withdrawals are normal," he added.
"My sources confirm it's a security incident," ZachXBT added on Telegram.
$1.46 billion would equate to the largest cryptocurrency hack of all time in dollar terms, with $470 million being lost in the Mt Gox Hack, $530 million in the 2018 hack of CoinCheck, and $650 million in the Ronin Bridge exploit.
BTC and $ETH dropped more than 1.5% and 2%, respectively, following the transfers.
UPDATE (15:44 UTC, Feb. 21): Adds quote from Bybit CEO and details of historical crypto hacks.