Cryptocurrency exchange platform Crypto.com has admitted that its platform has been compromised and that about 400 customer accounts were hacked. The confirmation came from the platform’s CEO Kris Marszalek in a Wednesday interview with Bloomberg TV. His confirmation followed allegations from several customers that their crypto assets had been stolen. Prior to the confirmation, the company refused to say anything regarding these claims.
Although the CEO refused to divulge how the hack occurred on the platform, he mentioned that the platform was back online about 13 to 14 hours after the hack happened and that all the accounts that suffered from the hack had already been reimbursed. The confirmation from the CEO is the platform’s first-ever acknowledgement that a hack occurred on its platform. Withdrawals from the platform were halted and the platform put out a notice on Twitter that “a small number of users are reporting suspicious activity on their accounts” requesting that they reset their two-factor authentication as a precautionary option.
Since the incident occurred, the company has numerously reassured its customers that its platform is safe and that losses would be covered by the company.
According to a Monday tweet by blockchain security provider Peckshield, the losses incurred by Crypto.com may run into $15 million worth of Ether (ETH). Peckshield went on to say that half of the funds were being sent to Tornado Cash to be “washed”. Tornado Cash offers “non-custodial anonymous transactions” on the Ethereum blockchain. What this means is that it can conceal where crypto is coming from. An analyst from OXT Research is of the opinion that the hack cost the platform $33 million.
Crypto.com says it is still investigating the incident and that information about the hack would be uploaded on its blog in a few days time.
The hack follows a trend of others that has been going on for the past months. Last year Poly Network was hacked and the hacker described as “White Hat” stole more than $600 million worth of cryptocurrency from the platform. The assets were, however, returned and the hacker seemed to have done it to notify the platform of its vulnerabilities.
Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
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