Binance Freezes $5.3M in Funds After Alleged $54M BtcTurk Hack

Highlights:

Binance freezes over $5.3 million in stolen funds linked to BtcTurk breach.
ZachXBT estimates hack losses at $54M, mainly in AVAX tokens.
ZackXBT praised Binance for its proactive role in supporting the community during security incidents.

According to Binance CEO Richard Teng, Binance is assisting in the investigation of a malicious attack on the Turkish cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk. More than $5 million in stolen funds have been frozen as part of the ongoing efforts. Teng said Binance will share updates as soon as its investigations team gathers more information.

He stated:

“Our investigations & security teams work around the clock as part of our proactive efforts to protect the ecosystem from bad actors. We will provide further updates as relevant.”

Binance is assisting BtcTurk with investigations and have frozen over $5.3M in stolen funds so far.

Our investigations & security teams work around the clock as part of our proactive efforts to protect the ecosystem from bad actors. We will provide further updates as relevant. https://t.co/8j6uMgOPm6

— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) June 22, 2024

BtcTurk Faces Cyber Attack

On June 22, BtcTurk faced a cyberattack resulting in a significant loss of users’ funds. The BtcTurk team confirmed that the attack affected only a portion of the balances of 10 cryptocurrencies stored in their hot wallets. However, the majority of assets stored in their cold wallets remained secure. The exact amount of loss has not been disclosed.

BtcTurk swiftly halted all crypto withdrawals and deposits. To reassure users that their funds are secure and protected from any potential losses, the exchange has emphasized that its financial reserves exceed the affected amounts.

BtcTurk, one of Turkey's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, said it was attacked on June 22, and cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals have been stopped. Officials said that some balances in the hot wallets of 10 cryptocurrencies were affected, and the cold wallets that hold…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) June 22, 2024

ZachXBT Reports 1.96M AVAX Transfer Worth $54M

Blockchain analyst ZachXBT suggested that approximately 1.96 million Avalanche tokens ($54.2M) were suspiciously transferred, indicating a likely connection to the attack based on timing analysis. ZachXBT noted that the funds were transferred to exchanges like Binance and Coinbase using THORChain. They were then withdrawn as Bitcoin to two separate wallets in large transactions. Coinbase and THORChain have not yet addressed the hack.

BTCTurk was apparently hacked

Not sure if their hot wallet is on x-chain pic.twitter.com/4Tdj7GjNrF

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 22, 2024

The AVAX token experienced a sharp 10% decline to $24.92 following a BtcTur hack. In a post on the Telegram Channel, ZachXBT said, “AVAX is down 10% over past few hours likely due to this entity that started moving, transferring 1.96M AVAX ($54.2M) to Coinbase, Binance, Gate, and bridging via THORChain.”

ZackXBT Praises Binance for Efforts Amid Crypto Exchange Attacks

In an X post on June 22, ZackXBT praised Binance for its proactive efforts in aiding the community during security incidents.

ZachXBT stated:

“Binance gets crucified by the media when in reality their security team generally does more for victims + goes out of their way to assist in incident response.”

Rising Security Breaches in the Crypto Sector

Recently, crypto companies have experienced a surge in security breaches, resulting in significant losses. On June 22, CoinStats, a crypto portfolio management firm, temporarily suspended user activity following a security breach that affected 1,590 crypto wallets.

Update on the Security Incident

The attack has been mitigated, and we have temporarily shut down the application to isolate the security incident.

1. None of the connected wallets and CEXes were impacted.

2. Thanks to the immediate incident reponse from the CoinStats team,…

— CoinStats (@CoinStats) June 22, 2024

Moreover, Defiance Capital’s official X account announced the DEFIANCE token launch, claiming all users were eligible and included a link. Shortly after, founder Arthur Cheong stated the account had been hacked, confirmed the announcement was a scam, and warned users not to click on the links. Crystal Intelligence reported that the crypto industry has faced 785 hacks and exploits over the past 13 years. Since the first known crypto hack on June 19, 2011, nearly $19 billion in digital assets have been stolen.

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Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital.