Crypto exchange HTX, formerly known as Huobi, recently experienced a hack resulting in a loss of $8 million. In response, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao offered the assistance of his exchange’s security team to investigate the attack. Prompt action is crucial in tracking down and recovering stolen cryptocurrencies, as hackers often attempt to cover their tracks by using mixers or converting the stolen funds into privacy tokens. On September 24, blockchain analytics platform Cyvers detected a hack that drained 5,000 Ether (ETH) from one of HTX’s hot wallets.
To mitigate the damage, HTX proactively offered a 5% “white-hat bonus,” amounting to nearly $400,000, to incentivize the hacker to return the majority of the stolen funds. However, the hacker has been given a seven-day period to comply with this offer. HTX communicated the offer in Mandarin (Chinese), as seen in the provided screenshot.
Binance CEO CZ made a lighthearted comment on the similarity between the rebranded HTX and Sam Bankman-Fried’s controversial FTX exchange. However, it is important to note that the losses incurred by the two exchanges are incomparable since HTX was hacked, while FTX was suspected of being a scam.
In response to a tweet from Tron founder Justin Sun, who also advises HTX, CZ appointed Binance’s security team to assist in tracing the stolen funds. Sun confirmed that HTX will cover all losses suffered by its users. He emphasized that the $8 million loss represents a relatively small sum compared to the $3 billion worth of assets held by HTX users, and it is equivalent to just two weeks’ revenue for the platform.
HTX has also implemented real-time monitoring mechanisms to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. Sun clarified that he does not hold a major stake in HTX, but he committed to conducting several live streams in English and Chinese to discuss exchange security.
Binance has not yet responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comment regarding the ongoing investigation into the HTX hack.
In a separate incident, the decentralized peer-to-peer network Mixin Network suffered a hack resulting in a loss of nearly $200 million. This hack involved the compromise of a third-party cloud service provider’s database. An independent investigation by Web3 SaaS analytics platform 0xScope revealed a historical connection between the hacker and Mixin Network. In 2022, an address associated with the hacker received 5 ETH from Mixin and subsequently deposited it into Binance.
Deposits and withdrawals on Mixin Network will resume once vulnerabilities are identified and fixed, although plans for recovering the lost assets for users have not yet been announced.
This incident highlights the need for enhanced security measures in the crypto industry to protect users’ funds and prevent such hacks from occurring.
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