In a recent development, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, the CEO of Binance, has offered the assistance of Binance’s security team to investigate a hack at HTX, a crypto exchange formerly known as Huobi. The hack resulted in a loss of $8 million.
The incident was reported shortly after blockchain analytics platform Cyvers identified a suspicious transaction that drained 5,000 Ether (ETH) from one of HTX’s hot wallets.
In a bid to mitigate the impact of the breach, HTX has taken a proactive step by offering a “white-hat bonus” equivalent to 5% of the siphoned funds. This bonus is estimated to be close to $400,000. The hacker has been provided with a seven-day window to adhere to this arrangement.
As per the information available on Etherscan.io, HTX has extended an offer of legal immunity to the perpetrator of the hack, provided they return 95% of the stolen funds within seven days.
Binance’s CZ Offered a Helping Hand
In response to the incident, CZ appointed Binance’s security team to help track the stolen funds. Timely intervention is key in such situations as hackers often attempt to hide their tracks using mixers or converting the stolen cryptocurrencies into privacy tokens.
A week after you rename your exchange after FTX… 😂
Jokes aside, our security team will help in tracking hacker funds in all cases where we can. https://t.co/5BjoG6IGA8
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) September 25, 2023
In addition to this, Tron founder Justin Sun, who also serves as an advisor for HTX, confirmed that HTX will cover all losses for its users. He pointed out that the $8 million is relatively insignificant when compared to the $3 billion in assets owned by our users. This sum also equates to merely two weeks worth of revenue for the HTX platform.
While Sun denies owning a major stake in HTX, he is committed to conducting several live streams in English and Chinese to discuss exchange security. Meanwhile, HTX has implemented real-time monitoring mechanisms to prevent such losses in the future.
This incident underscores the importance of robust security measures in the crypto industry. As CZ’s intervention demonstrates, collaboration and timely action can play a crucial role in mitigating the impact of such attacks.
