Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has also confirmed that the XRP wallet belonging to Ripple’s co-founder, Chris Larsen, was indeed hacked emphasizing that this incident was isolated and did not constitute a breach of Ripple as a cryptocurrency asset.
Another day, another shock for the cryptocurrency industry. Unknown hackers have successfully managed to steal $112 million worth of XRP, Ripple’s native token, in a recent hacking incident.
As a result of speculations surrounding the hacking, Ripple’s XRP token fell over 4% to $0.50. However, reports suggest the funds were stolen from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s personal wallet and not from cryptocurrency firm Ripple itself.
According to Ripple’s co-founder Chris Larsen’s post on X (Twitter), on Tuesday (30th January 2024) unauthorized access to some of his “personal XRP accounts (not Ripple)” occurred. He categorically denied attackers targeting any of Ripple network’s accounts.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse clarified that the incident was an individual security breach and should not be considered a Ripple security breach.
“Given some irresponsible speculation and reporting, I want to reiterate that NO Ripple-managed wallets were compromised. Full stop,” Garlinghouse noted.
Larsen confirmed that most affected funds were converted out of XRP and that nearly all funds were frozen. He has taken the law enforcement agencies on board to pursue the remaining funds aggressively.
Larsen posted this confirmation after crypto sleuth and blockchain analyst ZachXBT announced on X that Ripple was hacked for approximately 213 million XRP. ZachXBT, who broke the news first on social media, reported that stolen XRP funds have been laundered through various crypto exchanges and platforms, including MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, and HitBTC.
The exact method of hacking is still being probed, however, experts believe that Larsen’s private keys may have been compromised. XRPScan’s on-chain data analysis revealed that the hacked wallet, called Ripple (50), was activated by another wallet called “FundingWallet1” on 5th November 2018. This second wallet was previously activated by Larsen on 6th February 2013, a month after creating his account,”~chrislarsen.”
Binance is aware of the incident and is supporting the investigation, as per its spokesperson Simon Matthews, while Kraken’s representative Megan Thorpe claims they have engaged their incident response team to prevent such incidents.
For your information, Ripple, formerly called RippleNet, is a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange, and remittance network established in 2012. The network recently launched the enhanced Ripple Payments solution and promotes itself as a reliable payments and enterprise infrastructure provider boasting a market capitalization of $27.4 billion.
Lately, cryptocurrency wallets have been a preferred target among cyber criminals. Mark Cuban, a renowned TV personality, investor, and billionaire, was earlier targeted in a hack attack, resulting in the draining of all funds (around $900,000 worth of crypto) from his inactive wallet “mcuban” on OpenSea.
The cryptocurrency community is concerned about individual wallet security and potential targeted attacks, underscoring the need for responsible digital asset management and vigilance against evolving cyber threats.
Leading blockchain cybersecurity firm, Immunefi’s November 2023 report revealed startling figures with cryptocurrency losses exceeding $1.75 billion due to hacks and rug pull attacks. The company reported 296 incidents, resulting in $1,753,707,812 in losses year-to-date.
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