CoinGecko Reports Bybit's 'Gradual Recovery' Throughout 2025 Following $1.5B Security Breach
Despite experiencing a $1.5 billion security breach, Bybit's market presence expanded in 2025, as the leading 10 cryptocurrency exchanges witnessed an average 7.6% surge in trading activity during the year.
According to CoinGecko, Bybit achieved the second-largest trading volumes across cryptocurrency platforms last year, orchestrating a "slow but steady comeback" following the devastating $1.5 billion security breach it experienced in February 2025.
Throughout 2025, Bybit recorded $1.5 trillion in total trading volume, capturing 8.1% of the overall market share for the entire year, according to a Thursday report from CoinGecko research analyst Shaun Paul Lee.
"Despite the major hack Bybit suffered in February, it has clawed its way back to the top," and has "slowly gained back its dominance throughout 2025," he added.
The security incident targeting Bybit stands as the most significant cryptocurrency hack in history, executed by attackers from North Korea who leveraged a security flaw in the platform's cold wallet infrastructure to steal $1.5 billion worth of Ether (ETH).
Earlier this month, Immunefi CEO Mitchell Amador informed Cointelegraph that approximately 80% of cryptocurrency projects that experience a security breach fail to achieve full recovery due to operational disruptions and erosion of user confidence during the incident response phase.
Bybit implemented strategies such as maintaining open withdrawal functionality and fulfilling all user transactions. The exchange's CEO, Ben Zhou, also made video appearances to address user concerns, providing assurances that the platform possessed adequate reserves to safeguard all customer funds and outlined plans to obtain immediate liquidity through external financing arrangements.
Most exchanges saw volume climb in 2025
According to CoinGecko's analysis, six of the top 10 exchanges measured by market share experienced growth in their trading volumes throughout 2025, with aggregate trading volumes rising by 7.6% on average across the year, representing $1.3 trillion in additional trading activity.
Four of the top 10 platforms recorded volume increases in the double-digit percentage range, with MEXC emerging as the year's fastest-expanding exchange, experiencing a 91% surge in trading volumes to reach $1.5 trillion, a significant jump from $766.7 billion recorded in 2024.
"MEXC continued its aggressive zero-fee policy across all spot trading pairs, attracting high-frequency traders and retail users, and boosting trading volume," Lee said.
Notwithstanding a sluggish conclusion to the year, 2025 proved to be an exceptional period for cryptocurrency valuations, with Bitcoin (BTC) and various alternative coins establishing numerous all-time high price records.
Binance holds onto top spot
Binance maintained its position as the dominant force among cryptocurrency exchanges, with CoinGecko's data showing approximately $7.3 trillion in trading volume for the platform.
Nevertheless, the exchange did not experience growth in yearly trading volume when compared to 2024 figures, with its volume declining by 0.5% on a year-over-year basis.
"The slump in trading volume can be attributed to the general bearish sentiment in the crypto market after the historical liquidation event on Oct. 10," Shaun Paul Lee said.
Last year in a December open letter, the platform's co-CEOs, Richard Teng and Yi He, disclosed that the Binance user base had expanded to surpass 300 million users, while total trading volumes across all available products for the year reached $34 trillion.