Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has taken decisive action to freeze funds associated with a significant cyberattack on Turkish exchange BtcTurk. The attack specifically targeted ten of BtcTurk’s hot wallets following reports of suspicious transfers involving Avalanche tokens. However, BtcTurk has assured its users that its cold wallets, which hold the majority of its assets, remain secure, and the company remains financially stable.
Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, has confirmed that his company is actively assisting BtcTurk in investigating the incident. As part of their joint efforts, Binance has successfully frozen over $5.3 million in stolen funds, effectively preventing further unauthorized transfers. Teng emphasized the commitment of Binance’s investigations and security teams to protect the cryptocurrency ecosystem from malicious actors, promising to provide further updates as necessary.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has conducted a detailed analysis and determined that approximately $54 million worth of Avalanche tokens are likely linked to the cyberattack. These funds were subsequently transferred to various exchanges, including Binance and Coinbase, using the THORChain protocol. The stolen funds were then converted into Bitcoin and moved to two separate wallets. Interestingly, these large transactions occurred at the same time as BtcTurk publicly disclosed the attack, strengthening the connection between BtcTurk and the Avalanche transfers. A blockchain researcher had previously identified the relevant Avalanche wallet as belonging to a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange, further supporting this connection. ZachXBT has also raised suspicions about a potential hack targeting the online casino Sportsbet. The same threat actor responsible for the BtcTurk attack may have also stolen over $3.5 million from Sportsbet, and there is a possibility that the funds from both incidents were combined. However, Sportsbet has not yet commented on these allegations.
Following the cyberattack and the subsequent transfers, the price of Avalanche experienced a temporary decline of approximately 10%. However, the token has since recovered about 5% of its value from its lowest point on Saturday.
The cryptocurrency industry has seen a surge in scams, with analysts attributing a significant portion of these scams to scammers on the X platform. Scam Sniffer, a web3 anti-scam company present on X, conducted an analysis revealing that nearly $50 million is lost each month due to account impersonation on X.com. While these issues existed prior to Elon Musk’s involvement in the platform, the confusion surrounding the controversial paid verification service offered by the new owner may contribute to the vulnerability of the general public to impersonation scams. The service allows anyone with a smartphone to register and receive verification, potentially making it challenging to distinguish genuine accounts from fraudulent ones.
Binance co-founder Yi He recently expressed concerns about the increasing number of cryptocurrency scams on X, questioning whether Musk would take action to address the issue. Additionally, rapper 50 Cent, also known as Curtis Jackson, has fallen victim to a hacking incident in which his X account was used to promote a fraudulent meme coin based on the Solana blockchain. The hacker took advantage of the trend of celebrities launching their own meme coins, leading many to believe that 50 Cent was endorsing a new Solana token called GUNIT, launched through Pump.fun.
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