Despite experiencing a historic hack worth over $1.4 billion at the end of February, Bybit made a remarkable comeback in March, leading all exchanges in inflow ahead of Binance and MEXC. This data reflects Bybit’s swift and strategic actions to protect its users—moves that helped stabilize the platform and restore user trust.
Bybit’s Incredible Recovery in Just 1 Month
Following the February hack, Bybit recovered rapidly, witnessing a huge capital inflow of $3.7 billion in March. Bybit is also the highest among all centralized exchanges (CEXs), with Binance and MEXC standing in second and third place, respectively. This suggests a strong return of customer confidence and activity post-incident.
Source: DefiLlama
Besides, Bybit gained a total of $15.245B in assets after 1 month. This marks a minimal decrease compared to the previous month but is still a positive indication amid the downturn of the overall crypto market.
Bybit’s long-short ratio also stood at a high place, in the top 3, at 47.45% long versus 52.55% short. This near-even split suggests that Bybit maintains a robust trading environment where neither longs nor shorts overwhelmingly dominate, reducing the risk of sudden, manipulative liquidations.
Unlike other less reputable exchanges, which are known for abrupt “Future killing” events—where leveraged positions are wiped out due to sharp, artificial price swings—Bybit’s stable ratio and liquidity ensure smoother market dynamics. This fosters trust and minimizes the chances of such disruptive tactics.
Source: Coinglass
5 Reasons for the Bybit’s Outperformance
Swift and Transparent Response
Following the hack on February 21, 2025, where over 1.4 billion USD in Ethereum was stolen, Bybit’s CEO Ben Zhou quickly addressed the community via livestream and public statements. He clarified that only a single cold wallet was compromised and reassured users of the platform’s solvency, which helped mitigate panic and rebuild trust. This transparency likely continued into March, with regular updates on security enhancements and fund recovery efforts.
By maintaining open communication, Bybit aimed to reassure users, encouraging them to stay active on the platform rather than abandoning it due to distrust.
Bybit Hack Forensics Report
As promised, here are the preliminary reports of the hack conducted by @sygnia_labs and @Verichains
Screenshotted the conclusion and here is the link to the full report: https://t.co/3hcqkXLN5U pic.twitter.com/tlZK2B3jIW— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) February 26, 2025
Crisis Management and User Focus
Bybit processed over 580,000 withdrawal requests efficiently, restoring normal withdrawal operations within 12 hours after the hack. They also offered a 10% reward (up to 140 million USD) for information leading to asset recovery. These proactive steps demonstrated their commitment to users, helping stabilize the platform and encouraging a return of trust by March.
Learn more: Bybit Hack Updates: Repurchasing ETH to Cover 100% On Client Assets
Bybit offers a diverse token listing portfolio and investment opportunities, featuring both top-tier and lower-tier projects, low-cap tokens not listed on top exchanges like Binance or OKX. However, this strategy doesn’t compromise Bybit’s quality, thanks to its policy of continuously monitoring and promptly delisting underperforming projects to protect users such as EVERY, BUBBLE and COMBO).
Additionally, all projects undergo rigorous vetting by Bybit’s team before listing, avoiding meaningless meme tokens (unlike Binance’s recent memecoin bullishness) or high-risk projects like Pi Network (listed on OKX and Bitget). As a result, users find both opportunity and safety, motivating them to stay with Bybit.
Strong Liquidity Management
Despite a massive withdrawal of over 5.5 billion USD by users post-hack, Bybit maintained sufficient reserves to remain liquid. Audits from Hacken and DeFiLlama data confirmed that their asset base, though reduced from 16.9 billion USD to 11.2 billion USD initially, was still robust enough to handle the crisis without collapsing.
Also, Bybit quickly replenished its reserves with over 4 billion USD in emergency funding from partners like Bitget and Binance within days of the hack.
In March, they might have leveraged this restored liquidity to offer promotional incentives—such as reduced trading fees, deposit bonuses, or staking rewards—to entice users back. These perks would signal financial stability and reward user loyalty during the recovery phase.
Enhanced Security Measures as a Selling Point
Post-hack, Bybit collaborated with blockchain analytics firms and implemented stricter security protocols. In March, they likely promoted these upgrades to users, emphasizing a safer trading environment. Highlighting improved cold wallet protections or real-time fraud detection could have reassured users, encouraging them to resume trading without fear of further breaches.
Community Engagement and Recovery Campaigns
Bybit launched a 10% bounty program (up to 140 million USD) to recover stolen funds, rallying the crypto community.
They also introduced hundreds of trading campaigns for both loyal users and new users, aiming to raise them back to the exchange. Engaging users as active participants in the recovery process could have fostered loyalty and kept them invested in the platform.
