As 2025 draws to a close, the crypto industry has no shortage of milestones to reflect on. This was the year when perpetual DEXs matured, stablecoins quietly entered mainstream payments, and regulatory clarity finally began to take shape across key markets. Yet, amid all the progress, one moment stands apart – perhaps etched permanently into the collective memory of the industry – the Bybit hack. In February 2025, crypto’s fifth largest centralized exchange suffered what would soon be described as the largest crypto hack in history.
More than $1.5 billion vanished in a single exploit. The scale was staggering. The implications were existential. Behind the scenes, Zhou with his team coordinated a global response: industry specialists such as Chainalysis, Elliptic, TRM Labs and incident responders including Sygnia and NCC Group were mobilized.
On the night of the hack, Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit, received a call from his CFO – a person who usually stuck to texts. It signaled immediately that something serious had happened. The moment was not marked by panic or paralysis, but by decisive action. Within hours, he announced that Bybit would stand behind every user, regardless of the cost, and signaled a shift toward rapid expansion in the months that followed.
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