## Bybit Faces Major Hack by Lazarus Group
On Friday, Bybit reportedly fell victim to the notorious state-backed hacker organization Lazarus Group, which made off with approximately $1.5 billion in ether (ETH) from the prominent cryptocurrency exchange. This incident marks the largest hack in crypto history, accounting for over 60% of all crypto funds stolen in 2024. In the aftermath of this security breach, several leading figures in the industry proposed the idea of “rolling back” the Ethereum blockchain to recover the stolen ETH and prevent the North Korean government from utilizing those funds for its nuclear weapons program.
While it is technically feasible to roll back the Bitcoin blockchain, implementing such a change on Ethereum would be far more complicated due to the significant evolution of the chain, which now includes decentralized finance (DeFi) and cross-chain bridges. Any alteration to the state of the blockchain would necessitate consensus and could lead to a contentious hard fork, likely drawing heavy criticism from the community. This scenario could result in a split of the Ethereum blockchain into two separate networks, each with its own supporters.
Many have pointed to the significant 2016 hack of The DAO as a relevant example, where $60 million in ETH was successfully siphoned off. In that case, the network executed a coordinated hard fork, dividing the old network into two, with the new chain continuing as Ethereum. This fork effectively reclaimed the stolen funds by rewriting the Ethereum ledger.
Mike Novogratz, the founder of crypto investment and research firm Galaxy Digital, praised Bybit for handling the hack with “a world-class job.” However, Novogratz expressed his opposition to a drastic bailout-like hard fork, emphasizing that the Lazarus Group has previously stolen Bitcoin (BTC) and various other cryptocurrencies. He noted that the 2016 fork was a unique situation for the Ethereum ecosystem, comparing it to a baby taking its first steps. “There will be and should be no ETH fork. Bybit, unfortunately, will take a hit until their funds are recovered if our governments ever press NK (North Korea). The community will freeze the accounts and we move on,” Novogratz stated.
The CEO of Galaxy Digital also called on world leaders to address the ongoing threat posed by Lazarus. “It’s time world leaders do something about Lazarus,” he urged. Following the hack, the price of Ether plummeted over 7% within seven hours, falling from $2,830 to $2,668. As of the latest data from CoinGecko, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value was trading at $2,679.
