Tag: hackers

Crypto Hackers Just Leveled Up: $1.6B Gone in Q1 2025 as $100 Drainers Go Viral

Crypto Hackers Just Made It Stupid Easy to Steal $1.6B — Welcome to the Era of $100 “Drainers”

If you thought crypto scams were wild before, buckle up. The new villain in the Web3 streets? Drainer-as-a-Service (DaaS) — basically malware-as-a-subscription for crypto thieves. And get this: it starts at just $100.

Hackers, Crypto

Yep. For the price of a decent dinner, you too could (illegally) drain wallets. According to AMLBot’s April 22 report, drainer kits are now plug-and-play for criminals, no dev skills needed. All you need is a Telegram login and bad intentions.

Cybercrime Now Has a Help Desk

Phishing forums? Poppin’.
Darknet chats? Recruiting devs.
Telegram groups? Handing out tutorials like it’s a Web3 Udemy.

Some of these drainer gangs are so bold they’re setting up booths at crypto events like they’re legit startups. One crew, CryptoGrab, is a textbook case — operating freely thanks to loose enforcement in countries like Russia, where local laws turn a blind eye unless you scam their own.

And yeah, malware often auto-deactivates if it detects a Russian device. Homeland protection mode: activated 🇷🇺.

$494M Stolen via Drainers in 2024


That’s up 67% from 2023.
Kaspersky says darknet drainer forums more than doubled (55 ➡️ 129) between 2022 and 2024.
Telegram’s increasing data sharing has pushed them back to the Tor network, where it’s dark mode forever.

Q1 2025: Crypto’s Bloodiest Quarter Yet

Let’s talk numbers that hurt:
In just the first 3 months of 2025, total hacks torched $1.63 BILLION across 39 incidents.

That’s 4.7x more than the same time last year.

The top two gut punches?

  • Phemex: $69.1M drained in Jan
  • Bybit: $1.46B gone in Feb (yep, that’s billion with a B)

North Korea’s Lazarus Group is suspected to be behind most of it—94% of the total Q1 damage. That’s $1.52B stolen. Savage.

TL;DR


However, security isn’t broken — it’s basically non-existent right now.
And with drainers going for $100 a pop, expect even more losses if the space doesn’t level up its defense game ASAP.

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Bybit Hack Breakdown: $1.4B in Crypto Stolen, But Most of It Can Still Be Tracked

Okay, here’s the lowdown. Bybit just dropped an update on that insane $1.4 billion hack they suffered, and it’s a wild ride.

bybit

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou says hackers managed to swipe around 500,000 ETH, and yeah — they tried to cover their tracks hard. But here’s the twist: more than two-thirds of that money is still traceable.

Let’s unpack.

What the Hackers Did to Bybit

So, once the hackers got the ETH, they didn’t just sit on it. They immediately ran it through privacy tools like Wasabi, then bounced it through CryptoMixer, Tornado Cash, and Railgun — all stuff designed to hide money on the blockchain.

Next stop? Cross-chain bridges like Thorchain, LiFi, SunSwap, Stargate, and a bunch of others. These let them move crypto between chains, making it even harder to follow. Finally, they dumped the funds on OTC desks and peer-to-peer exchanges to turn that crypto into real-world cash.

ETH Got Turned Into BTC

The biggest move? The hackers converted a huge chunk of ETH to Bitcoin. We’re talking over 432,000 ETH, or $1.2 billion, shifted off Ethereum. Nearly 343,000 ETH got turned into 10,003 BTC and split into 35,000+ wallets. Most of those wallets now hold tiny pieces — around 0.28 BTC each.

And guess what? Some of that BTC went back through mixers, and even a small amount got converted back into ETH.

So, What’s the Score Now?

Here’s the current status, straight from Zhou:

  • $1.24B (68.6%) is still traceable
  • $386M (27.6%) has gone dark
  • $53.6M (3.8%) is frozen

Yep, most of the stolen funds haven’t disappeared completely — they’re still being tracked.

Enter: LazarusBounty.com

To fight back, Bybit launched a platform called LazarusBounty.com. It’s basically a bounty pool with $140 million up for grabs for anyone who can help trace or freeze the stolen crypto.

So far:

  • 5,400+ reports have been filed
  • Only 70 of them were valid
  • $2.3M has already been paid out
  • 12 active bounty hunters are grinding away right now

The rules are simple: 5% to the person who helps trace the funds, 5% to whoever freezes them.

TL;DR?

This isn’t just another lost-crypto story. Bybit is actually chasing down the money — and making some real progress. Zhou’s final message was basically a call to action: if you’re into blockchain sleuthing, now’s your moment.

There’s still hundreds of millions left to recover. And honestly, the fight’s just heating up.

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North Korean Hackers Lose $458K in Failed ETH Trade

North Korean hackers lost nearly $458K in just 48 hours while trading on Hyperliquid, betting on Ethereum’s price rise. They deposited $476K but got wiped out when ETH dropped. This big loss shows how risky crypto can be, even for experienced hackers, and highlights DeFi’s potential for shady trades.



North Korea’s cyber group just got burned big time—losing almost half a million dollars on a risky Ethereum (ETH) trade. They deposited $476,489 on Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange, betting ETH would rise when it was priced at $3,791.8. But the market flipped, and ETH dropped to $3,251.8, causing their position to get liquidated, leaving them with only $18,187.

This loss highlights the risky side of crypto, even for skilled hackers like North Korea’s Lazarus group, famous for cyberattacks and stealing funds from crypto platforms. Normally, they use these stolen funds to get around international sanctions, but this time, their bet backfired hard.

Hyperliquid, which allows ultra-fast and anonymous trades, is a decentralized exchange, and its involvement raises concerns about how DeFi platforms handle large and potentially suspicious trades. With platforms like these growing, there’s an increasing risk of illegal activities, like money laundering, slipping through the cracks.

Despite the loss, ETH is showing signs of recovery, and it’s a reminder that crypto trading is unpredictable, with both huge rewards and massive risks—even for hackers with years of experience. Let’s see if they learn from this, or go even harder next time.

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