As CryptoGlobe reported, on January 31, the cryptocurrency world was shaken by the news of a massive hack targeting Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s personal wallet, resulting in the theft of $112 million worth of XRP. This incident has been marked as the largest hack of 2024 to date.
Larsen, who is the executive chairman of Ripple Labs, addressed the security breach involving his personal XRP accounts, clarifying that the incident was confined to his own holdings and did not impact Ripple’s wallets. He reported that the unauthorized access occurred on January 30, but the issue was swiftly identified, allowing them to alert exchanges to freeze the compromised addresses promptly.
He also mentioned that law enforcement agencies have been engaged to address the situation. Larsen reassured that this was an isolated event and that Ripple’s wallets remain secure and unaffected. He also noted that nearly all the stolen funds had been converted from XRP. He went on to say that efforts were underway, in collaboration with law enforcement, to recover the funds, with a significant portion already frozen and actions being taken to secure the remaining assets.
On February 1, Binance CEO Richard Teng addressed the recent exploit involving Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s personal XRP accounts. Teng announced that the Binance team had successfully frozen $4.2 million worth of XRP stolen by the exploiter.
He expressed gratitude towards the community for their vigilance in flagging the issue to exchanges, specifically praising ZachXBT for his exemplary work, and acknowledged the Ripple team’s collaborative efforts in addressing the situation.
Teng affirmed Binance’s commitment to supporting Ripple throughout their ongoing investigations and efforts to recover the stolen funds. This includes closely monitoring any movements of the majority of funds still held in the exploiter’s external wallets to prevent them from being deposited to Binance.
Emphasizing the exchange’s dedication to maintaining a secure ecosystem, Teng encouraged projects and users to proactively reach out to Binance in similar instances, underscoring the importance of staying SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users).
Thomas Silkjær, Head of Analytics and Compliance at the XRP Ledger Foundation, responded to the incident by clarifying crucial points regarding the exploit. He emphasized that the compromised accounts were personal accounts belonging to Chris Larsen and not associated with an exploit at Ripple itself.
Silkjær highlighted that the XRP Ledger Foundation was the first to investigate the issue as it unfolded, contrasting with the approach of publishing information on social media a day later, as done by others. He noted that Ripple has now taken the lead in the investigation on behalf of Larsen following a comprehensive handover of data from the XRP Ledger Foundation.
