Bybit returns 40k ETH post-hack loan from Bitget

Bybit has transferred nearly $100 million worth of ETH back to Bitget. Bitget loaned 40,000 ETH to Bybit immediately after the $1.4 billion hack.

According to data from Arkham Intelligence, Bitget has received 40,000 Ethereum (ETH) from a Bybit cold wallet on Feb. 24, worth around $99.98 million at the time of transfer. Bitget was one of the first exchanges to come to Bybit’s rescue after the exchange lost around $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum in one of the largest crypto hacks to date.

On-chain data shows that Bybit first moved the chunk of Ethereum from the exchange’s hot wallet to a cold wallet before transferring it to Bitget. In addition, Bybit also moved 47,800 ETH ($118 million) to their cold wallet before the Bitget transfer.

Earlier today, Bybit was also seen making a transfer of 3,000 ETH to Binance from a hot wallet, worth $7.5 million at the time.

At press time, Ethereum has gone down by nearly 9% in the past 24 hours. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap is currently trading hands at $2,489. In the past few days, ETH has been on a downward trend, falling by 7% in the past week and decreasing by more than 25% in the past month.

Bybit’s road to recovery

As previously reported by crypto.news, Bybit claimed it has fully covered the $1.4 billion loss in Ethereum tokens suffered from the hack. Bybit was able to close the gap through whale deposits, ETH purchases and loans from various exchanges, including Bitget.

A day after the hack, on Feb. 22, Bybit received $172.5 million worth of Ethereum loaned from different crypto exchanges and firms to cover customer withdrawals. These loans included 40,000 ETH from Bitget, 12,652 in Lido staked ETH (STETH) from MEXC, and 11,800 ETH from Binance.

As Bybit has begun to return the loans from these exchanges, it may seem that it is already recovering from the loss four days after the incident took place. On Feb. 24, Bybit CEO said the exchange will soon publish an audited plan-of-record report to show that Bybit is “100% 1:1 on client assets.”

Despite the speedy recovery, data on Arkham Intelligence shows that the Bybit hacker, believed to be Lazarus Group, has started laundering the stolen funds. Wallets linked to the hacker have been making two to three transactions per minute, moving ETH from one address to another.