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Bybit CEO: 77% of Stolen Ethereum Still Traceable – But This Week Is Critical

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou has provided an update on the $1.4 billion of ETH stolen on February 21: 77% remains traceable—making this week critical for securing the remaining $1 billion.

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Harvey Hunter

Junior Content Creator

Harvey Hunter

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Harvey Hunter is a Junior Content Creator at Cryptonews.com. With a background in Computer Science, IT, and Mathematics, he seamlessly transitioned from tech geek to crypto journalist.

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Last updated:

March 5, 2025

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Bybit CEO Cautions 'Critical' Week for 77% of Stolen Ethereum

The days since have knocked the leading altcoin down 21.45%, with Trump’s “tariff war,” NATO tensions, and the stolen Bybit Ethereum steering market sentiments.

But now, with hopes that the hacker can be stopped and Trump’s plans to feature ETH as a core reserve asset, optimism has returned.

The Ethereum price is up 7.5% today, and selling pressure appears to be waning with an 18% decline in trading volume to $28 billion.

Bybit CEO Cautions ‘Critical’ Week for Stolen Ethereum

Zhou emphasized that the next week will be critical for tracking and freezing funds, as hackers are expected to move assets through exchanges, OTC desks, and peer-to-peer platforms.

So far, just 3% of the funds have been frozen, while 20% of the stolen ETH has “gone dark.”

3.4.25 Executive Summary on Hacked Funds:
Total hacked funds of USD 1.4bn around 500k ETH, 77% are still traceable, 20% has gone dark, 3% have been frozen.
Breakdown:
– 83% (417,348 ETH, ~$1B) have been converted into BTC with 6,954 wallets (Average 1.71 btc each) . This and…
— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) March 4, 2025

11 different entities have joined efforts to recover the funds, with Mantle, Paraswap, and on-chain investigator ZachXBT leading the charge.

A total of $2.18 million in USDT has been paid to 11 bounty hunters aiding in the recovery.

Bybit has also launched a website to track the movement of stolen funds and is offering bounties for assistance in freezing them.

As of now, seven exchanges have cooperated, while one platform, eXch, has refused to freeze funds linked to the hack.

ETH Price Analysis: Buy-The-Dip Opportunity?

Today’s rebound affirms the bottom support of a descending channel pattern forming since mid-December.

ETH / USDT 1D chart, descending channel pattern. Source: Binance.

More substantially, it marks a successful bounce from the historical support trendline that has defined Ethereum bottoms since late 2020.

This comes as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) begins a new uptrend after hovering near the oversold threshold of 30—a sign that selling pressure may be exhausted.

More so, the MACD line remains close to forming a golden cross, moving in close parallel with the signal line, suggesting that recent bearish dominance remains fragile.

While consolidation appears likely in the short term, a breakout from the wedge pattern projects an upside target of around $3,260, representing a potential 45% gain from current levels.

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With over $3.2 million raised in its initial month, the project is already gaining strong momentum—potentially credited to its 133% APY on staking that rewards early investors.