Following the KuCoin hack, Tether has frozen 20 million USDT sitting on an Ethereum address and Bitfinex froze 13 million USDT on EOS, according to Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino. Another 1 million USDT was frozen on Omni and 1 million USDT on Tron.
In an announcement posted on its website, KuCoin revealed that it is currently monitoring several addresses linked to the hack. It is also collaborating with several exchanges and projects to halt the movement of the stolen coins and recover them where possible.
KuCoin on Sept. 25 suffered a devastating hack, losing an estimated $150 million from its hot wallet. Speaking on his Twitter account yesterday, Ardoino gave several updates regarding freezes of potentially stolen USDT on Omni, TRON and EOS chains, as the crypto ecosystem scrambles to contain the situation.
One trader pointed out that it was a slippery slope for Bitfinex to freeze the USDT, asking what is to prevent them from stopping there. The Bitfinex CTO was quick to defend the move, saying that Tether is a centralized stablecoin with obligations to “users, regulators and law enforcement.”
Cross-Platform Cooperation
In the meantime, KuCoin confirmed that it is working with other exchanges to track the stolen funds. These exchanges include Binance, Huobi, OKEx, Bybit, Upbit, Bibox, Gate, MXC, BitMax, BigONE, BKEX, BitZ, HBTC, Hoo, Crypto.com, Bingbon, Renrenbit, LBank, Max/Maicoin, CoinW, Bibo, and Bitrue.
Speaking on a livestream on Sept. 26, KuCoin Global CEO Johnny Lyu stated that the following addresses are suspicious and are being monitored:
- ETH: 0xeb31973e0febf3e3d7058234a5ebbae1ab4b8c23
- BTC: 1NRsEQRg5EjmJHbPUX7YADVPcPzCQBkyU7
- LTC: LQtFoidy5TmLrPP77MZzgMRffqPsmRfMXE
- XRP: r3mZvvHVLPtRWAujzBsAoXqH11jhwQZvzY
- BCHSV: 15mC7zKbLyErSKzGRHpy6gyqS7GyRpWjEi
- XLM: GBM3PJWNB5VKNOFXCDTTNXPMUNBMYTLAAPYDIIKLHUGMKX7ZGN2FNGFU
- USDT: 1NRsEQRg5EjmJHbPUX7YADVPcPzCQBkyU7
- TRX: TB3j1gUXaLXXq2bstiSMfjQ9R7Yh9DdDgK
Velo Labs on Sept. 26 revealed that it will invalidate all VELO tokens moved to the suspicious addresses and replace all of them.
Reactions to the Hack
Despite the nature of the attack, which worked by compromising the exchange’s hot wallet private keys, KuCoin insists that user data is safe and insurance will cover any losses. At press time, it is unclear exactly how many users have been affected and to what extent. But anecdotal evidence from Reddit does not suggest that substantial user losses have been recorded yet.
In a screenshot posted on Twitter showing what appears to be KuCoin Senior Partner Alicia Kao speaking to users in a KuCoin Telegram Channel. She reassures them that their funds are safe and the exchange is investigating the hack.
In the meantime, TRON founder Justin Sun has also reacted to the developing situation, offering his sympathy to KuCoin and pledging to assist in recovering stolen funds.
BeinCrypto will bring more updates as the story develops.