Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, Bybit has fallen victim to the largest hack in crypto history, with North Korean hackers stealing over $1.4 billion in assets. Meanwhile, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed in principle to dismiss its lawsuit against Coinbase, and the Utah State Senate is set for a second reading of a Bitcoin reserve bill.Bybit exchange hacked, over $1.4 billion in ETH-related tokens drainedCryptocurrency exchange Bybit has been hacked for over $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether (stETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH) and other ERC-20 tokens, according to onchain security analyst ZachXBT, who spotted the incident shortly after it occurred.Following the exploit, the onchain sleuth warned users to blacklist addresses associated with the hack. The North Korean hacker organization Lazarus Group was spotted behind the hack.Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou confirmed the incident and provided an update on the security breach.Zhou confirmed that a transfer was made from the exchange’s multisignature wallet to a warm wallet approximately one hour prior.The CEO said the specific transaction was masked to appear legitimate but contained malicious source code designed to alter the smart contract logic of the wallet and siphon funds. Zhou reassured customers:“Please rest assured that all other cold wallets are secure. All withdrawals are NORMAL. I will keep you guys posted as more develops. If any team can help us to track the stolen fund will be appreciated.”Later in a livestream, Zhou said that the exchange had around 4,000 pending withdrawal transactions and asked for patience as the issue is resolved. The CEO added:“We don’t have plans to suspend or cancel withdrawals. At the moment, we are still receiving all the withdrawal requests, and, in fact, 70% of them have been approved and processed. A lot of the network congestion is still there, so we’re processing them as fast as we can.”The CEO also reassured customers that no other Bybit wallet was compromised in the security incident and added that the exchange is securing a bridge loan to continue operations while the issue is fully resolved.SEC agrees to drop enforcement case against CoinbaseThe US SEC has agreed to dismiss a lawsuit against Coinbase, which had accused the cryptocurrency exchange of operating as an unregistered securities broker.According to a statement from Coinbase, the dismissal remains subject to final approval by an SEC commissioner before it is officially withdrawn. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong highlighted the significance of the decision, stating:“If this goes through, it’s a really big deal, not just for us, but for the whole crypto industry. The 50 million Americans who hold crypto, and I think for the rest of the world because this is an important signal about where things are going.”The SEC sued Coinbase in June 2023 amid a torrent of litigation against the crypto industry, attempting to frame many firms and projects as either unregistered securities brokers or securities in and of themselves, placing heavy regulatory and financial pressure on the industry.Utah’s Bitcoin reserve bill up for second Senate readingThe Utah Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee on Feb. 20 passed a Bitcoin (BTC) reserve bill, which will now head to a second and third reading in the Senate before a final chamber vote.The bill passed through the state’s House earlier this month, meaning if it clears the Senate it would head to Utah’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox’s desk for him to sign into law.The Blockchain and Digital Innovation Amendments bill, or HB 230, would give Utah’s state treasurer the authority to invest public funds in digital assets that have averaged a market capitalization of $500 billion or more over the last calendar year.Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency currently meeting the requirement, in effect making the bill a Bitcoin reserve bill.Utah has made the most progress on a crypto reserve bill out of the states, and Satoshi Action Fund CEO Dennis Porter has tipped Utah to be the first to make a Bitcoin reserve, pointing to its shorter legislative window calendar and “political momentum.”