Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has been hacked. This was announced in a press release by the exchange’s CEO Changpeng Zhao.
The hackers managed to steal 7,000 bitcoin, equivalent to over $40 million, in one transaction by having, among other things, overcome API keys and codes for two-factor authentication. This allegedly was done in different ways, among other things through phishing and viruses.
“The hackers had the patience to wait, and execute well-orchestrated actions through multiple seemingly independent accounts at the most opportune time. The transaction is structured in a way that passed our existing security checks. It was unfortunate that we were not able to block this withdrawal before it was executed” Changpeng Zhao writes.
Fund will cover the losses
According to Binance, this transaction was the only one affected. It was the crypto exchange’s so-called “hot wallet” for bitcoin, that is, a digital crypto wallet that is connected to the internet, that was hit. However, that wallet contained only two percent of the exchange’s bitcoin assets.
“All of our other wallets are secure and unharmed”, Changpeng Zhao writes.
Binance also has a special fund with money that they now will use to cover the losses. Therefore, no users will suffer financially, according to the exchange.
In addition, Binance has also suspended all deposits and withdrawals from the exchange during the coming week while they are investigating what has happened, according to the press release.
