- HTX to offer hackers 5% of stolen funds as a white hat bonus.
- Crypto exchanges continue to suffer hits from crypto exploiters.
- Binance offers its security team to help Huobi investigate the hack.
Crypto exchange HTX reports news of a $7.9 Million hack that happened on the 24th of September—the Huobi global-owned crypto exchange claims to know the person behind the attack.
A well-known Huobi hot wallet posted a message to the hacker after the robbery. The letter was written in Chinese, and it appeared to state that HTX knew the hacker’s identity and would let them keep 5% of their looted funds as a white hat bonus if they agreed to return the remaining 95%.
According to the information, the suspected Huobi hot wallet behind the back sent 4,999 Ether, which amounted to $7.9 million, to a crypto address with no prior history.
The action was followed by a message in Chinese from Huobi to the hacker, stating that the white hat bonus offer was valid for seven days, and within that period, the hacker was expected to return the stolen funds, or HTX would tow the path of seeking judicial assistance.
In a report made by Cyvers on September 25 detailing the attack, they added that the message was identified as coming from a Huobi hot wallet by blockchain analytics platform, Arkham Intelligence, and, in addition, Cyvers stated that the wallet that was used to send the message was also listed on a Huobi support page as one belonging to the crypto exchange.
An investor for the exchange, Justin Sun, confirmed the hack on HTX on the morning of September 25, announcing that the exchange had unfortunately suffered a loss of 5,000 Ether, which amounted to USD 8 million in an attack on the exchange’s wallet. Justin added a message assuring other users that their funds were safe and that HTX was now back to functioning correctly, with them covering for the losses that were incurred from the hack, even being able to resolve issues relating to the hacker that had popped up successfully.
Amidst the chaos surrounding the hack, Binance’s CEO, Zhao Changpeng “CZ,” has offered the help of his exchange’s security team to help Huobi investigate the attack on its exchange.
CZ stated that he believes a timely intervention would go a long way in tracking down and retrieving the stolen ether, as crypto hackers often attempted to hide their tracks using mixers or converting their loot to privacy tokens.
HTX has reportedly, according to Justin Sun, begun implementing real-time monitoring mechanisms to prevent such losses. While Justin denied accusations of owning a significant stake in HTX, he agreed to join several live streams conducted in English and Chinese to discuss the exchange’s security measures further.
Conclusion
The crypto space has seen non-stop hacks and reported stolen funds for more than a year now, and the hackers of these crypto exchanges do not seem to be ready to slow down. The only seemingly visible solution is to amp up security. Huobi is still investigating and awaiting the hacker’s decision on their proposal.
