Analysis: Bybit's Bitcoin Liquidity has Recovered to Pre-Hack Levels

On May 7th, according to Kaiko's Wednesday report, the Bitcoin liquidity on the Bybit platform has rebounded to the level of February after a hacker stole $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum through a multisig theft from the platform. Bybit became a victim of a sophisticated attack. It is believed that the attacker is the infamous North Korea-backed criminal group Lazarus Group. The attacker deceived Bybit's cold wallet signers into authorizing a malicious transaction on February 21, 2025, stealing more than 400,000 Ethereum. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou stated that after the attack, the platform received over 350,000 withdrawal requests, with users withdrawing their assets and normal market activities decreasing. This event put further pressure on Bybit and the entire crypto market, following the announcement in January of the US tariff plans that triggered a global trade war. However, one month later, Bybit's Bitcoin liquidity has recovered to the pre-hack level. Kaiko researchers wrote: "Despite the significant changes in US trade policy creating a challenging Bitcoin market environment, Bybit's 1% Bitcoin market depth fully recovered within 30 days of the hack." Market depth refers to the ability of a platform to handle large buy and sell orders without causing significant price fluctuations. The greater the market depth, the more trading activity the exchange's order book can absorb.