2018-10-31 10:00 |
The biggest crypto exchange in South Korea, Bithumb was a victim of a massive hack that resulted in a loss of over $30 million of virtual assets. The breach in hot wallet resulted in the exchange immediately stopping their deposits and withdrawal while they moved their funds to the safety of cold storage. Bithumb also had to pay for the losses from their own pockets.
The hack not only affected the exchange rather the entire crypto ecosystem as a whole. The prices of Bitcoin fell by about 3% as soon as the news of the hack went public. It also affected the reputation of the crypto industry, giving critics additional reason to be skeptical about the security problems of the nascent industry.
In the course of the next 10 days, the exchange in association with top crypto players globally managed to recover a good chunk of their losses, an estimated amount of $13 million. However, not much was known about these operations.
Now, after 4 months of the attack, Changelly, an instant crypto swap platform, revealed how this joint effort by industry leaders led to the recovery of stolen assets which totals 1,063,500 XRP. Their CEO, Ilya Bere said that through the execution of AML and KYC methods that targeted various addresses recognized by the hacked exchange, the project had caught a notable amount of cryptocurrencies with a dubious foundation. They prevented the transaction from going through the API and managed to secure the funds.
This is a testament on how joint efforts in the crypto companies can benefit the entire ecosystem. In fact, Changelly CEO also makes this point in their press release as evident by the following statement.
“The case with Bithumb reminded us that it is vital to enhance the industry-wide engagement, as well as the interaction between the authorities and services vulnerable to potential security accidents. We keep in touch with the representatives of the Bithumb exchange and the South Korea police to keep informed of the situation with stolen funds. This case sets a precedent for how the joint work of the key players in the cryptocurrency market can positively affect the industry, bringing security improvements to the crypto-trading projects.”
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