Ethereum Bounces Back as Bybit ‘Closes Gap’ on Hack Losses

Ethereum prices displayed resilience over the weekend, rapidly bouncing back from a slump following the massive hack of the Bybit crypto exchange.

The asset slumped 7% in a matter of hours on Feb. 21, falling from $2,832 to $2,629 in the wake of the $1.4 billion Bybit hack of Ethereum assets.

However, ETH tapped $2,800 in late trading on Feb. 23, following a recovery, but has lost some steam since then once again.

Bybit Closing The Gap

On Feb. 24, Lookonchain reported that the exchange had received around 446,870 ETH worth around $1.23 billion through loans, whale deposits, and ETH purchases since the hack.

Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou responded to the data, stating that the firm has “already fully closed the ETH gap” before adding that a new audited proof-of-reserves report will be published “very soon.”

Latest Update: Bybit has already fully closed the ETH gap, new audited POR report will be published very soon to show that Bybit is again Back to 100% 1:1 on client assets through merkle tree, Stay tuned. https://t.co/QLa1vOujM6

— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) February 24, 2025

Custodia Bank CEO Caitlin Long also responded, congratulating Zhou and hoping that he’ll share a case study on navigating the financial stress.

“The way Bitfinex handled its financial distress post-hack was creative and ultimately proved more efficient than the cost of traditional restructurings,” she said.

The hackers, which are believed to be North Korea-affiliated Lazarus Group, have been reportedly using a service called eXch to launder the loot.

On Feb. 23, Zhou said he hoped that the exchange “could reconsider and help us to block funds outflowing from them” after contacting them.

“We are also getting help from Interpol and international regulatory bodies. Helping block these funds is not just helping Bybit,” he added.

Over the weekend, Bybit reported that there had been some success in freezing assets with assistance from companies and organizations, including Tether, Circle, Avalanche, and THORChain. However, it remains a drop in the ocean compared to the total losses.

A coordinated effort led to the freezing of $42.89M in just one day. Thanks to the following teams for their swift action: @Tether_to: Flagged address and froze 181K USDT @THORChain: Blocked the blacklist @ChangeNOW_io: Froze 34 ETH @FixedFloat: Froze 120K USDC + USDT…

— Bybit (@Bybit_Official) February 23, 2025

ETH Price Outlook

Despite the initial recovery, ETH did not spend long above $2,800 and fell back to $2,740 during the Monday morning Asian session, where it found support.

The asset has been choppy for the past week, having hit resistance just above $2,800 three times while finding support just above $2,600 twice.

ETH has been within this range since it collapsed below $3,000 in early February, having shown little signs of returning to that level despite the month being bullish historically.