Bybit attackers have laundered 45,900 ETH over the past 24 hours, bringing the total amount of laundered funds to 27% of the stolen funds.
Renowned blockchain sleuth Yujin, also known as EmberCN, revealed this development today in an X post. According to Yujin, the perpetrators, identified as North Korea’s Lazarus Group, laundered 45,900 Ethereum (ETH), worth $113 million, over the past day.
This transaction brought the total amount laundered to 135,000 ETH ($335 million), representing 27.05% of the assets stolen from Bybit. Yujin emphasized that the Bybit hackers still hold 363,900 ETH ($900 million) in their wallets.
Possible Duration to Launder Remaining Funds
Following the rate at which the funds are being converted, the blockchain sleuth forecasted that it could take 8 – 10 days for the remaining ETH to be laundered.
As of yesterday, Yujin claimed the perpetrators may launder the remaining funds within two weeks or a month. This duration has now been reduced to 10 days.
Bybit Hack and Ongoing Laundering Efforts
Recall that Bybit suffered the single largest known theft of any kind, dwarfing the $1 billion Saddam Hussein reportedly stole from Iraq Central Bank in 2003. As previously reported, Lazarus Group siphoned $1.46 billion worth of ERC-20 tokens (498,900 ETH) from Bybit’s cold wallet using malware.
Since the theft, the group has been laundering the funds through THORChain, swapping the stolen assets, like cmETH and stETH, for Ethereum.
In addition, Lazarus Group has also laundered some funds through the instant crypto exchange eXch. According to a recent Elliptic report, $75 million worth of stolen funds was laundered through the platform. This comes after the eXch team rejected Bybit’s request to block the transaction.
mETH Protocol and Tether Recover Some Funds
While eXch refused to block this activity, crypto projects like Tether and mETH Protocol have helped to recover some of the stolen funds.
mETH Protocol announced recently that it recovered 15,000 cmETH (worth about $43 million). Additionally, Tether froze 181,000 USDT stolen from Bybit’s wallet.
With the crypto industry collaborating to recover the stolen funds, the Bybit attackers have been cautious while laundering the assets.
