On 21 February 2025, attackers attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group drained roughly $1.5bn in ether from a Bybit cold wallet — the largest theft in the history of cryptocurrency. Bybit processed withdrawals continuously through the following week, replaced the missing assets through loans and its own capital, and published a full incident timeline. The response was close to a best case. That the exchange was compromised at all is why security is its lowest criterion at 6.0, and why this review starts there rather than with the fee schedule.
What actually went wrong
The attack did not break Bybit's contracts or steal its keys directly. It compromised the signing workflow: signers approved what appeared to be a routine transfer while the underlying transaction had been manipulated, a failure of what is displayed to a human rather than of cryptography. That distinction matters for anyone using multisig custody, because the same class of attack applies to any organisation whose signers trust a screen. Bybit has since rebuilt its signing infrastructure and expanded its security audits.
What Bybit is good at
The matching engine is genuinely fast, the derivatives interface is among the best designed in the industry, and unified trading accounts allow cross-margin across spot, perpetuals and options. Fees are competitive at roughly 0.10% spot at the entry tier, with lower derivatives rates, and market-maker relationships keep spreads tight even in thin hours. Asset coverage is broad, with new listings arriving quickly and a copy-trading product that is well built if less developed than Bitget's.
Reserves and regulation
Bybit publishes proof-of-reserves attestations and has maintained them since 2022. Its regulatory footprint is thinner than the licensed majors: it holds registrations in a handful of jurisdictions, has withdrawn from others under pressure, and exited the UK market after FCA restrictions. Users in restricted countries have periodically been given short notice to close positions, which is a real operational risk rather than a theoretical one.
Who should use Bybit
Active derivatives traders who value execution quality and pricing will find it excellent, and its conduct under maximum stress is a genuine mark in its favour — plenty of exchanges have failed with far less provocation. But a venue that lost $1.5bn eighteen months ago is not where we would keep an idle balance. Trade there, sweep regularly, and hold long-term positions somewhere with a clean custody record or in self-custody.