PA Daily | Bybit launches bounty recovery program for 10% stolen funds; Kanye suspects to sell the X account's right to release $20 million
Reprinted from panewslab
02/23/2025·2MToday's news tips:
1.Bybit CEO: Hope eXch reconsider fund outflows, which is not only helping Bybit
2.Tether has frozen 181,000 USDTs related to Bybit hackers and will continue to monitor
3. A total of 106,498 ETHs were bought in more than a day.
4. Market News: Kanye is suspected of selling the release rights of X account for $20 million
5. Currently, 5 institutions/individuals have provided loan support for Bybit with a total of approximately 120,000 ETH.
6.Bybit CEO: Let the Ethereum blockchain roll back before it is stolen, perhaps it should be decided by the community vote
7. Ethereum core developer issues an article explaining why it cannot "rollback" the Ethereum blockchain
8.Bybit: Will take out 10% of the recovery funds rewards to recover ethical networks and security experts who have stolen cryptocurrencies
9.NFT transaction volume rose 19.6% month-on-month to US$152.9 million in the past 7 days
Regulatory/Macro
The market has experienced another ups and downs as U.S. President Trump promises to impose more tariffs, and economic optimism that emerges after Trump’s election may begin to fade. Despite turbulence, gold continued to rise this week and refreshed its all-time high above $2,950, however, there is always a voice in the market: Does this mean that as the rebound in the second half of the week fails to continue to hit record highs in one go, does it mean Are bullish pressure weakening? After the strong U.S. CPI data is released, the U.S. core PCE price index will become the market's focus on data next week. Here are the key points that the market will focus on in the new week:
- Monday at 22:30, the US Federal Reserve Business Activity Index for February;
- On Tuesday at 17:20, 2026 FOMC Voting Committee and Dallas Fed Chairman Logan delivered a speech;
- On Wednesday, 00:45, Federal Reserve Director Barr made a speech;
- On Wednesday, at 02:00, the 2027 FOMC voter and Richmond Fed Chairman Barkin delivered a speech on inflation;
- At 01:00 on Thursday, 2027 FOMC voter and Atlanta Fed Chairman Bostic spoke on the economic outlook and the property market;
- At 21:30 on Thursday, the annualized quarterly rate of the US real GDP in the fourth quarter, the revised quarterly GDP price index, the monthly rate of durable goods orders in January, and the number of initial unemployment claims in the United States to the week from February 22;
- On Friday 02:15, 2026 FOMC voter and Cleveland Fed Chairman Hamake delivered a speech on financial stability;
- On Friday at 04:15, 2026 FOMC voter and Philadelphia Fed Chairman Huck delivered a speech on the economic outlook;
- Friday at 21:30, US January PCE data and January personal expenditure monthly rate;
The strong U.S. economy has provided security for investors to continue to inject money into U.S. stocks on Friday, amid the threat of tariffs and the Federal Reserve’s tightening policy, but the decline in U.S. stocks could mean that such “protection” could be limited. For investors who have recently put record money into various venture capital, even the initial signs of pressure on the outlook for the U.S. economic growth is enough to sell them out. Given that Fed officials will mostly speak before the release of PCE data next week, they are not expected to relax easily and continue to emphasize uncertainty and caution.
Project News
mETH Protocol: cmETH withdrawal has been restored, user funds have not been affected
Liquidity staking/re-staking protocol mETH Protocol issued a statement on X platform to announce that cmETH withdrawal has been restored, user funds security has not been affected and fully supported, a detailed post-event analysis report will be released soon, which will outline the incident and all the taken measure.
Previous news, the liquidity pledge/re-pled protocol under Mantle, which has a deep binding relationship with Bybit, announced the suspension of cmETH withdrawal after understanding that Bybit's recent transaction security incident involving certain mETH and cmETH, but the deposit and pledge services are still in progress. .
Tether has frozen 181,000 USDTs related to Bybit hackers and will continue to monitor
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced on the X platform: "The 181,000 USDTs related to the ByBit hack have just been frozen. Although it may not be much, it is honest to work." Paolo Ardoino also said that it will continue to monitor.
Bybit posted on X platform that as part of the investigation and recovery efforts, Bybit promised to give out 10% of the recovery funds to reward ethical networks and cybersecurity experts who actively recovered stolen cryptocurrencies in the incident.
Bybit said it has launched a bounty recovery program, and has issued a call to elites in the global field of cybersecurity and encryption analytics to jointly track down the perpetrators of the largest theft in crypto history.
Arkham Exchange will offer spot transactions to users in 17 U.S. states starting March 1
Arkham Intelligence announced that its exchange Arkham Exchange will provide spot cryptocurrency trading to users in 17 U.S. states starting March 1.
The move was announced by Arkham in November last year after the company launched a USDT-based perpetual contract exchange. Spot transactions will be for Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming, Wisconsin, California Users in the state, Massachusetts and Montana are open.
According to @ai_9684xtpa monitoring, CZ bought 1.005 BNB TST in two times in the early morning, worth about $662. Bilateral liquidity of 1110.99 TEST and 0.096 WBNB were then injected into the TST/WBNB trading pair, worth approximately US$200. Perhaps affected by this news, the TST value exceeded US$100 million again in a short period of time.
In response, CZ responded: "Buy TST is just for testing. This is my first time using AMM, flow pool, etc. I have never used DEX before, just CEX. I want to put some BNB in TST LP As a test. I have seen Pancake's demo before, and it looks very simple. So I didn't refer to any video tutorials and wanted to see what the first experience would look like. As a novice, I have to say that the DEX experience can be improved a lot, and there may be some The robot is trying to snatch my public address transactions (or any large transactions), and everyone can monitor what I'm doing in real time, well, there's a lot to do."
Market News: Kanye is suspected of selling the release rights of X account for $20 million
According to X user @afhasbara, Kanye sold the publishing rights of his X account to @barkmeta for $20 million before the cryptocurrency was released, and his broker John Monopoly charged a 15% fee. @barkmeta also has the right to publish @AB84 and is behind the fake Yeezy token posted on the AB page yesterday, which was removed within a few hours. Kanye's cryptocurrency tweet that he sees now is obviously not posted by him.
Bybit CEO: Hope eXch reconsider fund outflows, which is not only helping Bybit
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou tweeted, “At this moment, it’s actually nothing to do with Bybit or any entity, but our general attitude towards hackers as part of an industry, and I sincerely hope that eXch can rethink and help us stop the outflow of funds. We also have the help of Interpool and international regulators to help stop these funds from being more than just helping Bybit”. EXch publicly released Bybit's interception request email and responded with a rejection.
Previous news , Slow Mist founder Cosine tweeted that given that a relatively large amount of ETH has been washed out through eXch and replaced with BTC XMR, etc., all platforms should improve their risk control levels for funds from eXch.
Bybit: Deposits and withdrawals have completely returned to normal levels
Bybit released an update on X platform to announce that deposits and withdrawals on its platform have fully returned to normal levels, and the on-chain data has confirmed this situation.
Viewpoint
Binance Lianchuang CZ said in response to community users on X platform: "I tried meme. But I definitely can't become a real user of the local dog. I never chase fast money. The mentality cannot be copied. You may not know, I He has never been a standard user of CEX. I am a hodler. I am a blacksmith. Make tools. Not every blacksmith can do martial arts. Blacksmiths who do not know martial arts can sometimes polish their swords."
Binance Lianchuang CZ released some ideas on the X platform about the recent hacker attacks, and he said:
There is a pattern where hackers can steal a large number of cryptocurrencies from multi-signature “cold storage” solutions, such as ByBit, Phemex, WazirX and others.
In recent ByBit cases, hackers were able to let the front-end user interface show legitimate transactions, while the actual signature was for another transaction. Not very familiar with other cases, but based on limited available information, they sound similar. What’s even more terrifying is that the affected exchanges use different providers of multi-signature solutions. The hacker Lazarus Group has very advanced intrusion capabilities and a wide range of scope. It is not clear whether a hacker can hack multiple signature devices, server-sides, or in each case.
Someone questioned my proposal to stop all withdrawals as a standard safety precaution (I tweeted on the shuttle to the plane) with the intention of sharing a practical approach based on personal experience and observations, but both approaches None of them is absolutely right or wrong, and the guiding principles are always inclined toward the safer side. After any security incident, pause everything to make sure we fully understand what happened, how hackers hacked into the system, which devices were hacked, check everything is safe and then resume operations.
Of course, suspension of withdrawals may cause more panic. In 2019, Binance suspended withdrawals for a week after a massive $40 million hack, and when withdrawals were resumed (and deposits) were seen as more deposits than withdrawals were made. Not that this is a better approach. Each situation is different. This is a question of judgment. The relevant tweets are to share what might be effective. The purpose is to express support in a timely manner. I also believe that Ben has made the best decision based on the information he has. Ben maintained transparent communication and calmness in his challenge and performed exceptionally well. This is in stark contrast to other less transparent CEOs (such as WazirX, FTX, etc.). The cases mentioned here vary. FTX is a fraud. WazirX, will not comment as the lawsuit is still ongoing.
According to Jinshi, Buffett published an annual shareholder letter, which mentioned that the value of tradable shares held last year fell from $354 billion to $272 billion, but the value of the non-listed controlling shares held increased, and is still far higher value of a tradable stock portfolio. We will always invest the vast majority of their funds in stocks—mostly U.S. stocks, although many of these companies have important international operations. Berkshire will never be more inclined to hold cash equivalent assets and give up holding equity in high-quality enterprises, whether it is controlling equity or partial equity.
In 2024, Berkshire performed better than expected, although 53% of 189 operating companies reported a decline in revenue. Investment returns have achieved a foreseeable significant increase in investment returns as U.S. Treasury yields have significantly increased holdings in these high-liquid short-term securities. Berkshire has been continuously increasing borrowings denominated in yen, but not following any fixed pattern. All borrowings are fixed interest rates, and there is no "floating interest rate" loan. There is no prediction of future foreign exchange rate trends, so we strive to maintain an approximately neutral position in terms of currency.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou said the exchange will do everything possible to recover stolen funds, including providing bounty programs for anyone who assists in returning funds, working with law enforcement and talking with the Ethereum Foundation to explore possible solutions plan.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou was asked in Spaces on February 22 when he supported rolling back the Ethereum blockchain to its status before the Lazarus Group hack on February 21. It responded: "I'm not sure if this is a one-person decision. Based on the spirit of blockchain, maybe it should be a voting process to see what the community wants, but I'm not sure."
After Bybit was hacked, some people asked why Ethereum cannot "roll back" the blockchain to reverse the hacker attack. In this regard, Ethereum core developer timbeiko.eth posted an explanation. It said that although Bitcoin was able to "roll back" its blockchain 15 years ago, today, the interconnected nature of Ethereum and the settlement of on-chain off-chain economic transactions have made this problem tricky today.
CZ tweeted that it may combine the remaining funds from the donation address into investment. See which method works better. "Many people suggest donating to charities, and I support it. I like to do charity with cryptocurrency. My requirement for charity is that the receiving organization must enable cryptocurrency and must allow tracking to the ultimate beneficiary. Transparency. Recommendations are welcome." "Some other projects suggest destroying the tokens received. I understand what it means. Airdrops are the ones that put the most effort into wallet operations, and choosing airdrops to will cause more "controversy". Some people suggest adding to LP. I I did some tests yesterday. I think I might finally get the trick. From this address, the MEV experience is very accurate. Great learning experience, fun weekend practice, I know it's just a few years late. Currently, I tend to Do more to support liquidity. I don't care if the funds on this address are profitable. I think it's also an indirect way to give back to our community."
Previous news , CZ bought about 1 BNB of TST in the early morning and said that the experience can be improved a lot when using DEX for the first time.
Important data
According to on-chain analyst Ember Monitor, five institutions/individuals have provided loan support for Bybit a total of 120,000 ETH (3.2097ymy) . Specifically:
Bitget: 40,000 ETH ($105,96 million);
Institution/Whale with Withdrawal from Binance: 11,800 ETH ($31.02 million);
MEXC: 12,652 stETH ($33.75 million);
Binance or another institution/whale to withdraw money from Binance: 36,000 ETH ($96.54 million);
0x327...45b Address: 20,000 ETH ($53.7 million).
NFT transaction volume rose 19.6% month-on-month to US$152.9 million in the past seven days
According to Crypto.news, NFT transaction volume has increased to US$152.9 million in the past seven days, an increase of 19.60% from the previous week, according to CryptoSlam data. The number of NFT buyers increased by 64.53% to 335,666; the number of NFT sellers increased by 49.30% to 237,123; the number of NFT transactions increased by 4.73% to 1,574,998.
Ethereum network NFT transaction volume jumped 42.71% to $79.1 million, while the number of buyers increased by 36.09% to 41,619. Bitcoin network NFT transaction volume fell 26.59% to $20.6 million, while the number of buyers rose 40.65% to 23,097.
The deals worth watching in the past 7 days include:
- CryptoPunks #7685: $166,289 (60 ETH)
- CryptoPunks #3963: $139,515 (50 ETH)
- CryptoPunks #5774: $122,773 (44 ETH)
- CryptoPunks #9813: $121,059 (44.99 ETH)
- CryptoPunks #8046: $120,659 (44.69 ETH)
Golem Network, which raised 820,000 ETH in 2016, is suspected to sell $20 million in ETH.
According to on-chain analyst Ember Monitor, Golem Network, which raised 820,000 ETH in 2016, may have sold another 7,250 ETH (US$20 million) in the past two days: 6,200 ETH were transferred to Binance and 1,050 ETHs. Enter Coinbase. There should be 110,000 ETH (US$3.05 million) in 2016 to get the current one: 10,000 in Golem: Multisig address, and 100,000 in Ethereum native staking.
Bybit suspected of buying 71,755 ETH through OTC, worth approximately $197 million
According to Lookonchain monitoring, Bybit is suspected to have purchased 71,755 ETH ($197 million) through OTC.
It is suspected to be Bybit or its associated address to buy 106,498 ETH in the past day.
According to on-link analyst Ember Monitor, it may be Bybit or its affiliate address (0x2E4...b77) that it received another 34,743 ETH ($97.75 million) from Wintermute about 20 minutes ago. They are likely to have purchased 106,498 ETH ($294.93 million) in the past day: through Galaxy Digital, FalconX, Wintermute.
This address first received USDT from Bybit's cold wallet and then transferred to FalconX and Galaxy Digital.
jinse