Could White-Hat Hackers Aid in Recovering Stolen ETH from the Lazarus Group?

• Can white-hat hackers outsmart the Lazarus Group and recover stolen ETH?

• Whales accumulated 140,000 ETH amid Bybit’s $1.4 billion hack linked to Lazarus Group.

• Bybit offers a $140 million bounty to recover stolen funds and mitigate losses.

Amid a major security breach, Bybit prepares to tackle the Lazarus Group with a substantial bounty, as investors maneuver the ETH market.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou’s plan of action

In response, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou announced efforts to recover the stolen assets, including launching a bounty program, collaborating with law enforcement, and engaging with the Ethereum Foundation to explore potential solutions.

Zhou also addressed the controversial possibility of rolling back the Ethereum blockchain to reverse the hack’s effects.

The Bybit CEO took to X (formerly Twitter) and said,

“I’m not sure if it’s one man’s decision. Based on the spirit of blockchain, maybe it should be a voting process to see what the communities want, but I am not not sure.”

Arthur Hayes joins the fray

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and a significant ETH holder, recently reached out to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin with a bold proposition.

Hayes suggested considering a network rollback to help Bybit recover from its devastating $1.4 billion ETH hack.

This idea has sparked debate within the crypto community.

Such a rollback would reverse the blockchain’s state to how it was before the attack, potentially restoring stolen funds but raising questions about the integrity and immutability of the Ethereum network.

Hayes noted,

“@VitalikButerin will you advocate to roll back the chain to help @Bybit_Official.”

He added,

“My own view as a mega $ETH bag holder is $ETH stopped being money in 2016 after the DAO hack hardfork. If the community wanted to do it again, I would support it because we already voted no on immutability in 2016 [wh]y not do it again?”

Previous rollback incident

The concept of rolling back the Ethereum blockchain isn’t unprecedented.

In 2016, following the infamous DAO hack that drained around $60 million in ETH, the Ethereum community initiated a hard fork.

This split resulted in two separate blockchains: Ethereum Classic [ETC], which retained the original chain including the hacked transactions, and the current proof-of-stake Ethereum network, which reversed the illicit transactions.

This historical precedent now fuels the debate on whether a similar rollback should be considered for the recent Bybit hack.

What’s more?

On-chain analytics firm Lookonchain revealed that the Lazarus Group currently controls around 489,395 ETH, valued at approximately $1.3 billion, along with 15,000 Mantle Restaked ETH (cmETH) spread across 54 wallets.

Linked to North Korea, the group has been actively moving these stolen assets between wallets to obscure their origins and facilitate on-chain laundering.

In response, Bybit launched a 10% bounty program—offering up to $140 million—to incentivize white-hat hackers to help recover the stolen funds. CEO Ben Zhou also extended his gratitude to industry leaders and firms supporting the platform during this crisis.

Conclusion

As the situation unfolds, the crypto community watches closely to see if collaborative efforts can successfully counteract the growing threat posed by hacking groups like Lazarus. The potential for recovery via a bounty and community decision-making may set significant precedents for the future of blockchain security.