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The market has had time to fully digest the impact of Bybit’s hack by the Lazarus Group on Saturday morning. Surprisingly, it has held up well, considering this was the largest crypto hack in dollar terms. Bitcoin remains within the $95.7K–$100K range—though at the very bottom of it—and Ethereum, the asset stolen by the hackers, has continued to rally, now trading higher than it was pre-hack.
Bybit co-founder Ben Zhou and his team delivered a masterclass in crisis management, maintaining constant communication, avoiding withdrawal halts, and ensuring users could move funds as usual. This was despite Binance founder CZ suggesting a temporary pause on withdrawals. No users lost funds, transactions remained smooth, and paradoxically, the response has even reinforced confidence in Bybit for some traders.
Following the hack, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin reportedly announced that the Ethereum Foundation is considering either rolling back the chain or burning the stolen ETH. Burning would remove the stolen Ethereum from circulation, ensuring no one benefits from it. A rollback, however, would effectively undo the theft by erasing the transaction and all subsequent ones, requiring a hard fork—a major software update where miners, node operators, and users migrate to a new chain, leaving the old one behind. This has precedent: after the 2016 DAO hack, where $50 million in ETH was stolen, Ethereum executed a rollback, though it was controversial and led to the birth of Ethereum Classic (ETC) when some users refused to switch chains.
The rollback debate is polarising. If Ethereum can be rewound for a major hack, where does the line get drawn? Could smaller hacks, or even political motives, justify future rollbacks? Most of the community opposes it for this reason—it’s a Pandora’s box.
As of now, no decision has been made, but the Ethereum Foundation seems to be leaning towards taking no action, especially as Bybit appears to be replenishing its Ethereum reserves.
The hack has left a $1.4 billion ETH-sized hole in Bybit’s balance sheet, and they have already begun buying back Ethereum. This buying pressure has likely contributed to ETH’s strong price action over the past two days, making it a top performer among major cryptocurrencies, even outpacing Bitcoin.
Stormrake Spotlight: Ondo Finance (ONDO) ($1.13)
Stormrake Spotlight: Ondo Finance (ONDO) ($1.13)
Ondo has held the bottom of the accumulation zone and the 0.236 Fibonacci level—a positive sign despite recent bearish price action. If this level holds and Bitcoin reverses to the upside, I’d be confident in calling a low on Ondo, with an expected move back to the top of the accumulation range.
BTC/USD Key Levels and Price Action:
BTC/USD Key Levels and Price Action:
Bitcoin has held the critical $95.7K support and is looking to bounce in an attempt to regain bullish momentum lost in the wake of the hack. However, BTC faces significant resistance from multiple moving averages stacked just above this level. If Bitcoin can flip these into support, we should expect a retest of $100K in the coming days.
BTC Total ETF Flows for 23 Feb: $ (data not available at the time of writing)
(ETF flow data is sourced from https://farside.co.uk/btc/ and reflects figures at the time of writing.)
ETH/USD Key Levels and Price Action:
ETH/USD Key Levels and Price Action:
Ethereum has been strong post-hack, rallying to the top of its range and setting a new high. ETH has used the 21 EMA as support on its way up and is now testing the key resistance at $2,865. If this level holds as resistance, the 21 EMA should continue acting as support. However, if ETH flips $2,865 into support, we can expect a push towards $3,000.
ETH Total ETF Flows for 23 Feb: $ (data not available at the time of writing)
(ETF flow data is sourced from https://farside.co.uk/eth/ and reflects figures at the time of writing.)
*All prices are denominated in USD unless stated otherwise*
Written by Alexandar Artis
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