Binance Hacked: Bitcoin Exchange Suffers $40 Million Security Breach
By CCN: Binance, the No. 1 cryptocurrency exchange based on trading volume, has been hacked. Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who is at the helm of the exchange, made the announcement on Twitter after previously sharing that “unscheduled server maintenance” was unfolding. The Binance CEO tweeted that it “was not the best of days.”
As it turns out, it was much worse than imagined, with hackers making away with 7,000 bitcoins, which at the current BTC price is worth approximately $40 million. The funds were stolen from Binance’s hot wallet, which was comprised of 2% of the exchange’s bitcoin holdings.
Binance issued the following statement:
“We have discovered a large scale security breach today, May 7, 2019 at 17:15:24. Hackers were able to obtain a large number of user API keys, 2FA codes, and potentially other info. The hackers used a variety of techniques, including phishing, viruses and other attacks. We are still concluding all possible methods used. There may also be additional affected accounts that have not been identified yet.”
Not the best of days, but we will stay transparent. Thank you for your support!https://t.co/Y1CQOatEpi
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) May 7, 2019
The glass half full is that Binance has a SAFU fund, which is a Secure Asset Fund for Users. The fund is designed for situations like this unfortunate one, and the exchange made the following announcement:
“Binance will use the SAFU fund to cover this incident in full. No user funds will be affected.”
