Ripple executive chairman and co-founder Chris Larsen has taken to social media to clarify reports of the payment protocol being hacked on Wednesday.
Larsen’s Accounts Hacked
“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,” Larsen posted to X. “Law enforcement is already involved.”
Before Larsen’s clarification, X user ZachXBT posted data detailing the hack, which totaled more than $112.5 million worth of stolen XRP.
“So far the stolen funds have been laundered through MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, HitBTC, etc.,” ZachXBT posted.
It appears @Ripple was hacked for ~213M XRP ($112.5M)
Source addressrJNLz3A1qPKfWCtJLPhmMZAfBkutC2Qojm
So far the stolen funds have been laundered through MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, HitBTC, etc pic.twitter.com/HKGYsLQeMv
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) January 31, 2024
XRP Dips in Value
Following news of the hack, the price of XRP plummeted by more than 5%. The token’s value was able to course correct slightly, however, with the cryptocurrency down by 4% as of late Wednesday morning.
It appears as though Ripple users’ accounts have been untouched by hackers at the moment.
Despite this, not everyone on social media was pleased with Larsen’s statement regarding the hack.
“So if Zach never reported it,” one X user wrote in response, “you wouldn’t tell the public?”
“Totally completely separate entities… *wink* *wink*,” ZachXBT replied.
Crypto Hacks–A Recurring Problem Beyond Ripple
News of Larsen’s accounts being hacked is part of an ongoing security issue, with Immunefi statistics revealing nearly $127 million went into the hands of hackers and fraudsters across 19 specific incidents in January 2024 alone.
The number marks a drastic increase in crypto losses year-over-year, with January 2024’s total six times the amount taken illegally in January 2023. DeFi has been the primary target for hackers and fraudsters throughout the first month of 2024.
Just three weeks ago, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X account was hacked shortly before the federal agency approved spot bitcoin ETFs, prompting further scrutiny from the crypto community.
“I do think the chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler, is a political liability in the United States,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC. “And I think he’s not acting in the interests of the citizenry, he’s not acting in the interests of the long-term growth of the economy, and I don’t understand it.”
Ripple and the SEC have experienced gridlock with each other before, with a judge partially ruling in favor of Ripple’s argument that XRP is not a security during a lawsuit brought forward by the federal agency in July 2023.
“I think at some point there will be a new chair of the SEC, and I think that will be a good thing for the American people,” Garlinghouse stated.
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