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Ripple, the entity behind the XRP cryptocurrency, has fallen victim to a significant cyber attack, reportedly resulting in the loss of over 213 million XRP tokens, valued at a staggering $112 million.
The breach was initially brought to light by on-chain investigator ZachXBT, who revealed on X that the pilfered digital assets were systematically laundered through various centralized exchanges.
It appears @Ripple was hacked for ~213M XRP ($112.5M)
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) January 31, 2024
Source address
rJNLz3A1qPKfWCtJLPhmMZAfBkutC2Qojm
So far the stolen funds have been laundered through MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, HitBTC, etc pic.twitter.com/HKGYsLQeMv
ZachXBT noted unauthorized access to a large wallet on the XRP Ledger blockchain, revealing a tale of illicit activities. The stolen funds traced back to the source address rJNLz3A1qPKfWCtJLPhmMZAfBkutC2Qojm were skillfully funneled through multiple cryptocurrency exchanges, including MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, HitBTC, and more.
Chris Larsen, co-founder and chairman of Ripple, acknowledges that his personal XRP accounts had been accessed unauthorized on January 30. He confirmed that law enforcement is already involved in addressing the matter.
Yesterday, there was unauthorized access to a few of my personal XRP accounts (not @Ripple) – we were quickly able to catch the problem and notify exchanges to freeze the affected addresses. Law enforcement is already involved. https://t.co/T3HtKSlzLg
— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) January 31, 2024
Timing Adds to the Complexity
The incident unfolds at a particularly delicate moment for Ripple, as the company is scheduled to unlock 1 billion XRP from its escrow account on Feb.1. This routine release has historically sparked speculation about potential market implications, and the hack further clouds the outlook.
Ripple Labs has weathered legal storms, notably facing a lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2020. There were allegations of fraud and the sale of unregistered securities in the case.
Despite being named in the suit, Ripple and Chris Larsen secured a significant victory in July 2023 when XRP wasn't defined outright as a security. In the wake of the hack, the price of XRP has tumbled over 3.4% within the last 24 hours, currently trading at $0.51.