Bybit Seeks Bridge Loan To Cover ETH Withdrawals After $1.5B Hack

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou addressed concerns over the $1.5 billion security breach, confirming that withdrawals remain open but may take longer than usual due to network congestion.

Speaking in a livestream, Zhou revealed that 4,000 pending withdrawal requests are currently in the system, with 70% already processed. He urged users to remain patient while the backlog is cleared.

“We don’t have plans to suspend or cancel withdrawals,” Zhou said. “A lot of the network congestion is still there, so we’re processing them as fast as we can.”

He assured customers that no other Bybit wallet was compromised, and the exchange is securing a bridge loan to meet withdrawal demands while the situation is resolved.

Zhou explained that the malicious transaction appeared legitimate, tricking Bybit’s internal team into signing it.

“We saw the correct UI, we saw the correct address, then signed it,” he said. “It could be that all of the signer’s PCs were hacked and the UI was changed.”

Bybit’s derivatives head, Shunyet Jan, joined the livestream, apologizing for price discrepancies between Bybit and other exchanges following the hack.

Jan clarified that while Bybit has sufficient funds to cover losses, the exchange lacks enough Ether to process withdrawals in-kind, necessitating the bridge loan. He reassured users that retail withdrawals take priority, followed by VIP clients and institutions.

Crypto research firm Nansen reported that Ether’s price dropped by 4% within 45 minutes of the attack. Bybit’s security breach follows an uptick in crypto hacks in February, reversing a period of reduced cybercrime in January.

Bybit is now working to tighten security measures while handling customer withdrawals, with Zhou promising regular updates as the crisis unfolds.

The hacker initially moved the stolen funds—including 400,000 ETH (~$1.1 billion), 90,000 stETH, 15,000 cmETH, and 8,000 cETH—to an address starting with 0x476. They then split the funds across dozens of wallets and began swapping assets on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap, Paraswap, and KyberSwap.