In response to the recent HTX (formerly Huobi) hack, which resulted in an $8 million loss, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, the CEO of Binance, offered the assistance of Binance’s security team to investigate the incident.
Prompt action is crucial in tracking and recovering stolen cryptocurrencies, especially as hackers employ various tactics to obscure their activities, such as using mixers or converting the stolen assets into privacy tokens. Cyvers, a blockchain analytics platform, detected the hack on September 24, which saw 5,000 Ether drained from one of HTX’s hot wallets.
To mitigate the damage, HTX proactively proposed a “white-hat bonus” equivalent to 5% of the stolen funds, amounting to nearly $400,000. However, the hacker has been given a seven-day window to comply with this offer. HTX communicated this proposal in Mandarin (Chinese).
In response to a tweet from Tron founder Justin Sun, who is also an advisor for HTX, CZ enlisted Binance’s security team to aid in tracing the stolen funds. Sun assured users that HTX would cover all losses resulting from the hack, emphasizing that $8 million represents a relatively small sum compared to the $3 billion in assets held by their users and just two weeks’ revenue for the HTX platform.
HTX has also implemented real-time monitoring mechanisms to prevent future losses. Despite Sun’s statement that he does not hold a major stake in HTX, he pledged to conduct live streams in both English and Chinese to discuss exchange security.
This hack follows another recent incident where Mixin Network suffered a loss of nearly $200 million due to a compromise of a third-party cloud service provider’s database. An independent investigation revealed the hacker’s historical connection to Mixin Network, with funds ultimately being deposited into Binance.
Deposits and withdrawals on Mixin Network will resume once the vulnerabilities are identified and addressed, although specific plans for recovering lost assets have not been disclosed at this time.
