Network sources report that one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Binance, lost $40 million (7000 bitcoins) as a result of a hacker attack. The source says that the incident occurred due to a “major flaw in the security system” of the service. Hackers were able to gain access to a “hot wallet” that contained about 2% of all cryptocurrency reserves. Users of the service should not worry, since losses will be covered from a special reserve fund, which was formed from a certain part of the commissions received by the resource from transactions.
Currently, the resource has closed the ability to replenish wallets and withdraw funds. The exchange will become fully operational in about a week, when a full-scale security review will be completed and the investigation into the incident will come to an end. At the same time, exchange users will have the opportunity to conduct trading operations. It is possible that some accounts are still under the control of hackers. They can be used to influence the overall price movement within an exchange.
It is worth noting that the incident is not the first major scandal related to cryptocurrencies. For example, the co-founder and executive director of the QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency exchange, Gerald Cotten, passed away not long ago. It turned out that only he had access to the company’s money, as a result of which creditors and service users suffered large losses.