Ripple Co-Founder Loses $112 Million in XRP Hack, Binance Steps In
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Ripple, the payment network utilizing its cryptocurrency, XRP, experienced a significant security breach on January 31.
The breach targeted the personal wallet of Chris Larsen, co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple, resulting in the theft of 213 million XRP, valued at approximately $112.5 million at the time of the attack. This incident stands out as the most significant crypto theft of 2024, year-to-date.
Meanwhile, efforts to launder the stolen XRP were promptly disrupted by Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. Binance successfully froze $4.2 million worth of XRP from the hacker’s address.
CEO Richard Teng took to social media to announce the breakthrough, extending gratitude to the Ripple team and on-chain analyst ZachXBT for their invaluable assistance and collaboration.
After finding out early on about the exploit that occurred at @Ripple, we’re happy to say that the #Binance team has managed to freeze $4.2 Million worth of $XRP stolen by the exploiter.
We appreciate both the communities efforts in flagging it to exchanges – as always @zachxbt…
— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) February 1, 2024
ZachXBT played a crucial role in identifying and tracking the flow of the pilfered XRP across various platforms, including MEXC, Gate.io, Kraken, OKX, HTX, and HitBTC.
Notably, he uncovered that the hacked account had been mislabeled as Ripple’s official account on certain XRP block explorers, causing initial confusion and speculative discussions regarding the breach’s nature.
Ripple Was Not Affected by the Hack: Larsen
Chris Larsen assured the public that the breach was not a systemic attack but rather a personal one. He promptly reported the incident to law enforcement agencies and revealed ongoing cooperation with other cryptocurrency exchanges to freeze the hacker’s address and recover the funds.
This is an isolated incident, and Ripple wallets are secure / were never compromised. We’ve confirmed nearly all the affected funds were converted out of XRP.
We’re working with law enforcement and have been advised that a significant portion of funds have been frozen, and are…
— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) January 31, 2024
Thomas Silkjær, Head of Analytics and Compliance at the XRP Ledger Foundation, asserted that the foundation took the lead in investigating the issue. They promptly alerted Binance and other exchanges about the suspicious transactions, showcasing a collaborative effort to address the breach.
We received a tip yesterday from @WhiteBit of suspicious deposits, which led to unravelling a huge network of accounts involved in this case.
We alerted Chris as soon as we realised what was going on and have worked tirelessly for the past 18+ hours, collaborating with our good… https://t.co/OU3FNSSHHu
— Thomas Silkjær (@Silkjaer) January 31, 2024
This breach has amplified concerns surrounding the security and transparency of Ripple and XRP, already under scrutiny due to legal challenges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over alleged sales of unregistered securities.
Not surprisingly, XRP has shown no reaction to the news, as it has maintained a neutral price action as of the time of this report.
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