Adam Back, a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency world and creator of Hashcash, has pointed fingers at the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) architecture as the underlying cause of the recent massive hack on the Bybit exchange. Back argues that fundamental design flaws within the EVM, which underpins the Ethereum blockchain and many other networks, created vulnerabilities that were exploited in the Bybit incident.
Adam Back argues that the ongoing criticism of EVM hacks, particularly the recent $1.4 billion Bybit breach, is missing the real issue. While some believe EVM failures are insignificant, Back emphasizes that such incidents damage the broader crypto ecosystem’s credibility, including Bitcoin’s reputation.
this meme is a F FANTASTIC illustration of the EVM mis-design root cause of the @Bybit_Official ETH wallet hack and half a dozen other blind-sign rooted hacks going back. picture says 1000 words! @high_byte well done ser
— Adam Back (@adam3us) February 24, 2025
Back has been vocal about what he sees as the fundamental flaws of EVM technology. On February 22, he described EVM-based smart contracts as “complex, fragile, and unsecurable,” highlighting the frequent high-value hacks in the Ethereum ecosystem. He pointed out that the Bybit incident was not caused by hardware wallet security issues but rather the difficulty of accurately verifying transactions due to EVM’s complexity.
EVM contracts are too complicated and resource intensive to be properly verified or the effect displayed on a hardware wallet. (unlike #bitcoin) so what happend with @Bybit_Official is they thought they were doing a 30,000 ETH withdraw, signed on @ledger HWW; but instead they
— Adam Back (@adam3us) February 23, 2025
One of his main critiques is that hardware wallets are designed to display transaction details for user verification, but due to EVM’s technical structure, this doesn’t function properly for Ethereum. As a result, Bybit’s hardware wallet reportedly failed to display recipient addresses for ETH transactions.
Despite Back’s strong stance, many in the crypto community disagreed with his assessment. Critics argued that the root cause of the Bybit hack was poor operational security in managing multi-signature wallets rather than flaws inherent to EVM. Dyma Budorin, CEO of cybersecurity firm Hacken, stated that multisig security challenges exist across all blockchain ecosystems, including Bitcoin, due to risks like human error, phishing attacks, and compromised signer devices.
The hack has nothing to do with Ethereum or EVM, but we shouldn't let facts get in the way of a good story https://t.co/nR8UoqMF5q
— Toghrul Maharramov 🇺🇦 (@toghrulmaharram) February 21, 2025
Lex Fisun, CEO of Swiss analytics firm Global Ledger, echoed this sentiment, noting that only one of Bybit’s ETH cold wallets was affected, while others remained secure. He suggested that the breach was likely due to weaknesses in cold wallet transfer security rather than an EVM-specific vulnerability. Additionally, Fisun pointed out that Bybit’s affected wallet was multisig-based, meaning attackers may have tricked signers into authorizing a fraudulent transaction.
The debate over EVM security remains unresolved, with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin yet to address the concerns. Meanwhile, reports indicate that the hacker responsible for the Bybit breach is now one of the top 14 largest ETH holders globally, surpassing institutions like Fidelity and Buterin himself.
The Bybit hacker (Most likely N.K. ) is now the 14th largest ETH holder in the world
They hold roughly 0.42% of total supply, more than Fidelity, Vitalik, and 2x +what the Ethereum Foundation holds pic.twitter.com/ZMGY2Bx1B3
— Conor (@jconorgrogan) February 21, 2025
Bybit has not officially commented on whether it believes EVM played a role in the attack.
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