Huobi Global's HTX crypto exchange confirmed the return of funds stolen by a hacker in late September and issued 250 Ether (ETH) reward after solving the problem.
One of the hot HTX wallets was 5,000 ETH drain on September 25, worth approximately $8 million at the time. Shortly after the attack occurred, the company contacted the hacker and claimed to know his identity.
HTX eventually offered to pay a 5% reward worth around $400,000 and not take any legal action if they returned 95% of the funds by the October 2 deadline.
It seems that the HTX/Huobi hacker has returned the funds (4997 ETH)
0x48bd1179529343c7a970045290fd2b0b1d946f64e17c443a528e24bf7cdbb817 pic.twitter.com/MknehuhM6x
- ZachXBT (@zachxbt) October 7, 2023
In an X (formerly Twitter) post on October 7, Huobi Global investor and HTX advisor Justin Sun noted: “The hacker made the right decision. We would like to express our gratitude to everyone in the industry for his help!
“Strengthening blockchain security and protecting user assets is never an easy task, and we have been working tirelessly! Providing full security for users' assets is always our goal! We are grateful for the continued support of our users and community! she added.
We have confirmed that the hacker has returned all funds in full, as promised, and we have also paid the hack a white hat bonus of 250 ETH. The hacker made the right decision. We would like to express our gratitude to everyone in the industry for his help! https://t.co/SwY49A25h2
— HE Justin Sun Sun Yuchen (@justinsuntron) October 7, 2023
Hackers have proliferated in the third quarter of 2023. According to a recent report by blockchain security platform Immunefi, there have been 76 tricks on cryptography and Web3 projects and companies in the third quarter of 2023, compared to 30 in the third quarter of 2022.
The same week that HTX was hacked, the decentralized cross-chain protocol Mixin Network was also hacked. exploited for about 200 million dollars after attackers breached a third-party cloud service provider.
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Mixin Network offered a $20 million bug bounty if they returned the funds; however, the likelihood of recovering the funds appears slim.
On October 6, Anne Neuberger, US deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technologies, He suggested to Bloomberg that North Korean hackers may be behind the Mixin exploit.
"The trade appears to be the same type of trade we have seen before in the DPRK," he said.
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