Ethereum Falls as Crypto Exchange Bybit Confirms $1.4 Billion Hack

Coin prices are falling Friday following confirmation that major centralized crypto exchange Bybit was hacked after $1.4 billion worth of tokens were stolen in a hack.

More than $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH) and stETH were withdrawn from Bybit’s hot wallet on Friday, and a large chunk of the funds were being sold via decentralized exchanges.

Bybit co-founder CEO Ben Zhou confirmed the attack in a post on X (formerly Twitter), saying that a planned transfer was manipulated in some way and that the funds were swiped.

“However, the signing message was to change the smart contract logic of our ETH cold wallet,” said Zhou. “[The] hacker took control of the specific ETH cold wallet we signed and transferred all ETH in the cold wallet to this unidentified address.”

“All other cold wallets are secure. All withdraws are NORMAL,” Zhou added.

Ethereum is down nearly 3% on the hour to a current price of $2,727, while Bitcoin has dipped by nearly 1% to $98,091.

Editor’s note: This story is developing and will be updated with additional details.