Recent insights have shed light on the fact that a significant amount of altcoins, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, have been drained from firms with ties to the founder of Tron (TRX), Justin Sun. This revelation comes from data compiled by Lookonchain, a blockchain tracker, which indicates that five major breaches have taken place in the last 20 days, resulting in the theft of funds amounting to approximately $290 million.
Which Firms Were Affected?
Two of the targeted protocols – HTX, a crypto exchange, and Heco Bridge, a bridge for transferring funds between Ethereum (ETH) and the energy-efficient blockchain Heco Chain – have connections to Sun, who is currently the owner of the digital assets exchange Poloniex. According to Cyvers, a cybersecurity firm, these protocols were compromised, leading to a combined loss of around $100 million. The Heco Bridge alone accounted for $86 million of this sum.
The cybersecurity firm flagged numerous suspicious transactions from the HECO Chain bridge. All the assets of HECO Chain were converted into ETH and distributed to various EOAs (externally owned accounts). The transferred assets included 42 million USDT, 489 HBTC, 346 billion SHIB, 173,000 UNI, 619,000 USDC, 42,000 LINK, and 347,000 TUSD. The total estimated loss from these transactions was around $86 million.
Details of the Exploitation
Cyvers also provided information on how HTX’s hot wallet was exploited. The incident impacted two hot wallets of HTX Global, involving 1,240 ETH, 7.3 million USDT, 1.78 million USDC, and 62,200 LINK. The hacker distributed all the assets to different EOAs, each with 1 ETH for gas fee per address, and then transferred all ETH to other EOAs.
What’s Next for the Affected Firms?
According to Sun, although the withdrawals and deposits have been temporarily suspended, all HTX customer funds remain secure. He assured that services will be resumed once the specific reason for the breach is identified. “HTX and Heco Cross-Chain Bridge undergo hacker attack. HTX will fully compensate for HTX’s hot wallet losses. Deposits and withdrawals temporarily suspended. All funds in HTX are secure, and the community can rest assured. We are investigating the specific reasons for the hacker attack. Once we complete the investigation and identify the cause, we will resume services.”
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Please note: Investing in cryptocurrencies and other digital assets comes with its own set of risks. It’s important to do your own research and understand the market before making any investment decisions.
