Bybit has launched a $140 million bounty program to incentivize ethical hackers and cybersecurity specialists in an effort to recover $1.4 billion in stolen funds.
Bybit’s Recovery Efforts Gain Momentum
On February 22, Bybit unveiled the bounty initiative, offering up to 10% of recovered assets as a reward to those who provide intelligence or play a role in asset recovery. If the full amount is reclaimed, participants could receive as much as $140 million.
This move follows the successful recovery of over $43 million in cmETH and USDT, with Polygon’s security team playing a key role. Tether has also frozen $181,000 in USDT linked to the hack to prevent further movement of stolen funds.
Industry Response & Next Steps
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou emphasized the strong response from the crypto security community, with several industry experts and organizations stepping in to assist. The bounty program aims to accelerate ongoing investigations and enhance fund recovery efforts through ethical hacking and blockchain forensics.
With growing industry collaboration, Bybit’s approach signals a shift in how exchanges respond to large-scale security breaches, leveraging decentralized expertise to track and reclaim stolen digital assets.
