New Zealand-based crypto exchange Cryptopia was hacked two days ago. The thief (or thieves) made off with approximately $3.6 million in cryptocurrency. Now, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has frozen tokens sent to its wallet by the alleged hackers.
Binance Freezes Tokens
According to Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, the exchange reportedly received an unspecified amount of cryptocurrency that social media users noted looked suspicious. The transactions were coming from addresses known to be related to the Cryptopia hack.
Cryptopia currently remains shut down while police investigate the hacking.
The Frozen Tokens
CZ spoke on the matter and said Binance staff are holding the tokens while the investigation is underway. The tokens arrived on the exchange in several batches of MTL coins valued at $7,830 and KNC tokens valued at $6,867 at the time of writing.
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Speaking on Twitter CZ showed his surprise at the hacker’s decision:
“[Binance was] able to freeze some of the funds. I don’t understand why the hackers keep sending to Binance. Social media will be pretty fast to report it, and we will freeze it. It’s a high risk maneuver for them.”
Cryptopia Hack
Cryptopia itself has been unable to comment on events surrounding the hacking because of the police investigation. As a result, we don’t know an awful lot about the events leading up to the hack. One suspicion has arisen over large sums of tokens being moved on the exchange in the days preceding the attack. A positive move was that Cryptopia revealed it to investors immediately and didn’t try to hide it as has been an issue in similar past incidences.
Hacking on crypto exchanges is nothing new. Unfortunately, the regularity of hacking is a big reason why cryptocurrency has faced difficulty with mainstream adoption. The risks associated with trading the coins is considered far too volatile for major industry and financial bodies.
Featured Image: Depositphotos © NadaK2
