Bybit has returned the 40,000 Ethereum loan, valued at roughly $99.98 million, obtained from Bitget following the recent $1.4 billion security incident.
Blockchain analysis platform Lookonchain reported that the repayment occurred on Feb. 24, with Bybit transferring the funds from its cold wallet back to Bitget.
On Feb. 25, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen confirmed the return of the funds, emphasizing that they had confidence in Bybit’s ability to repay. According to her, the loan was extended as a gesture of support and came with no interest or collateral requirements.
Chen added:
“No interest, no collateral—this was simply about supporting a peer in need. Great to see Bybit fully recovered, and we never doubted the return of the loan.”
Bitget provided the loan on Feb. 22 after Bybit experienced the exploit that affected its Ethereum cold wallet. At the time, Bitget said the transferred funds were from its own reserves, not user deposits.
Meanwhile, further on-chain analysis indicates that Bybit transferred an extra 47,800 ETH, worth around $118 million, from its cold wallet into Binance. Lookonchain said these funds were used to settle loans obtained from other institutions and large crypto holders.
These repayments came after Bybit revealed that it had closed its ETH liquidity gap, restoring its client asset ratio to a 1:1 match.
$250 million laundered
The loan repayment comes as the Bybit attacker steps up its laundering efforts.
According to blockchain analytical platform SpotOnChain, the attackers have already laundered around 100,000 ETH—valued at approximately $250 million—through complex steps. These include breaking the stolen funds into smaller portions and transferring them across multiple addresses.
The hacker then utilized THORChain for cross-chain transactions, converting ETH into other assets like Bitcoin and DAI.
Blockchain analytical firm Arkham Intelligence pointed out that these funds are being moved frequently, with two to three transactions occurring every minute.
Despite these activities, the hacker still controls 399,000 ETH, surpassing holdings attributed to prominent figures like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin or even the Ethereum Foundation.
In response to these challenges, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou announced that the exchange is developing a system to prevent hacks and improve industry-wide efforts to recover lost funds.
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