Bybit said its monitoring systems stopped coordinated fake deposit attacks that might’ve triggered more than $1B in DOT▼$1.01 credits.
Crypto exchange Bybit said it blocked a series of coordinated fake deposit attacks across multiple blockchain networks that could have caused $1 billion in fake Polkadot (DOT) credits.
In today’s press release, Bybit said the attempts were built to fool deposit scanners, not to move real money. One method involved attackers using batch transfers to make a large transfer fail while smaller ones went through.
Another tactic used multi-step transfers to make deposits appear real. The exchange explained:
“The attacks are designed to deceive exchange systems into crediting funds that were never actually received. These attacks exploit how transactions are processed and validated, allowing them to appear legitimate while failing or resulting in no actual balance change.”
Bybit said the attacks are a new twist on an old crypto scam. In 2014, researchers showed that hackers could change a Bitcoin transaction and make it look like it never went through, a trick exchanges have been fighting since the Mt. Gox collapse in 2014.
Bybit Tightens Checks After Multi-Billion Hack
In February 2025, hackers stole about $1.5 billion from one of Bybit’s Ethereum wallets, marking the biggest crypto heist on record so far. Forensic reports found that the attackers first compromised a developer’s computer and then tricked the wallet system so transactions looked normal.
The FBI later blamed North Korea for the attack. The stolen crypto was quickly moved across thousands of addresses, making recovery difficult. As of press time, Bybit’s LazarusBounty site, which tracks activity on how many funds were traced, shows that over 90% of the stolen funds “gone dark.”
