KuCoin’s Twitter account briefly compromised, $22,000 stolen from users

• KuCoin says compromise of Twitter account lasted about 45 minutes, with users clicking on malicious links losing over $22,000.
• On-chain data shows largest loss was $7,750 in ETH.
• KuCoin has announced it will reimburse those who fell victim to the scam.

KCS, the native token of crypto exchange KuCoin, traded lower today as the exchange reported its official Twitter account was compromised for about 45 minutes.

In the latest KuCoin news, the exchange says the compromise only affected users on Twitter who interacted with fraudulent tweets and that no exchange assets were stolen. While users have been asked not to click on suspicious links, KuCoin has promised to reimburse all those affected as a result of the incident.

KuCoin Twitter account compromised, $22,000 stolen from users

KuCoin announced that its Twitter handle had been briefly compromised early Monday. The 45-minute breach of the exchange’s social media account saw a number of users lose their assets.

According to on-chain data reports, a total of 22 transactions resulted from the fraudulent details shared via the account during the period it was compromised. Approximately 22,638 USDT was stolen from unsuspecting users.

“The @kucoincom handle was compromised for about 45 mins from 00:00 Apr 24 (UTC+2). A fake activity was posted and unfortunately led to asset losses for several users. KuCoin will fully reimburse all verified asset losses caused by the social media breach and the fake activity,” the exchange tweeted after it seized back control of the account.

According to crypto market intelligence platform Arkham, the largest single loss was $7,750 worth of ETH.

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Last night Kucoin's twitter account was taken over by scammers for ~45 minutes.

They posted a link promising to 'double money'

Unfortunately, 14 users were caught in the scam, with the largest individual loss being $7750 worth of ETH. pic.twitter.com/NQcznTmVm2

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) April 24, 2023

Kucoin has assured its users that only the Twitter account was hacked and that customers’ assets on the crypto exchange are secure.

“We acted immediately to retrieve control of the account from official Twitter support after the incident occurred. We want to reassure you that your assets on KuCoin are secure,” the platform noted.

KuCoin price outlook

KCS price reached intraday lows of $7.99 early Monday, with the token’s value down roughly 2% over the past 24 hours. The declines are coming as the broader crypto market nursed fresh weakness with Bitcoin price trending towards $27,200.

Crypto analyst Michael van de Poppe says Bitcoin could see bullish divergences below $27k, writing on Twitter:

“Bitcoin clearly rejects the level here, while funding starts to become negative. Meaning that we’ll be having a bounce play soon, but from where? I’m expecting a creation of bullish divergences in the $26,500-27,000 area (Monday dump day) and then recovery to $29,200.”

This outlook means altcoins could bleed again and KuCoin could face more downside pressure in coming days. If buyers give up the key horizontal support zone formed near current prices, expect a retest of the $7.00 demand zone.