Would You Believe It? Bybit Hacker Now Holds More ETH Than Vitalik Buterin And The Ethereum Foundation

The hacker who carried out the biggest heist in cryptocurrency history now holds more Ethereum ETH/USD than the blockchain's creator, Vitalik Buterin. 

What happened: North Korean state-backed Lazarus Group allegedly pilfered over $1.4 billion worth of ETH tokens after seizing control of the cold wallet of cryptocurrency exchange Bybit. 

According to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, the wallet tied to the hacker held 437,700 ETH, worth $1.2 billion as of this writing, and accounted for 0.36% of Ethereum's total circulating supply. Notably, the hacker has begun to move portions of the hacked funds out.

Interestingly, Ethereum's co-founder Buterin owns far fewer ETH than the hacker.

As of this writing, the cryptocurrency mogul held about 240,081 ETH, worth $655.42 million, Arkham data showed. But that's not all.

The Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to promoting and developing Ethereum-related technologies, held about 223,147 ETH, valued at $608 million. 

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Why It Matters: The massive breach sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency market, igniting fears of a meltdown similar to the FTX exchange implosion in 2022. 

Bybit started shoring up its reserves and announced Sunday that it has “fully closed” the ETH gap through loans, whale deposits, and ETH purchases, returning to a 1:1 backing of its client assets.

Bybit has launched a recovery bounty program, offering up to 10% of the recovered funds as a reward to cybersecurity experts who assist in retrieving the stolen assets. 

Price Action: At the time of writing, Ethereum was exchanging hands at $2,720.97, down 3.60% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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