Binance Freezes $4.2 Million in Stolen XRP from Ripple Co-Founder

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has frozen $4.2 million in XRP tokens linked to the hacking of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s personal wallet.

After finding out early on about the exploit that occurred at @Ripple, we’re happy to say that the #Binance team has managed to freeze $4.2 Million worth of $XRP stolen by the exploiter.

We appreciate both the communities efforts in flagging it to exchanges — as always @zachxbt…

— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) February 1, 2024

On January 31, on-chain researcher ZachXBT highlighted suspicious transactions, suggesting hackers stole approximately 213 million XRP worth $112.5 million from Ripple.

Larsen stated that the funds were his personal assets. He noted that the previous day, unknown individuals gained unauthorized access to several personal accounts. He emphasized that the issue was quickly identified, exchanges were notified to block the assets, and law enforcement was involved in the investigation.

Binance CEO Richard Teng thanked ZachXBT and the Ripple team for coordinating efforts to track the stolen tokens. He assured that the exchange’s specialists would continue to monitor the assets remaining in the hackers’ wallets.

On January 31, commenting on the incident, Larsen reported that a “significant portion” of the funds had been frozen.

This is an isolated incident, and Ripple wallets are secure / were never compromised. We’ve confirmed nearly all the affected funds were converted out of XRP.

We’re working with law enforcement and have been advised that a significant portion of funds have been frozen, and are…

— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) January 31, 2024

According to ZachXBT, hackers transferred XRP to Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, MEXC, Gate, and other platforms.

Thomas Silkjær, Director of Analytics and Compliance at XRP Ledger Foundation, stated that after discovering the breach, the team exchanged information with various exchanges about the movement of coins for over 18 hours.

We received a tip yesterday from @WhiteBit of suspicious deposits, which led to unravelling a huge network of accounts involved in this case.

We alerted Chris as soon as we realised what was going on and have worked tirelessly for the past 18+ hours, collaborating with our good… https://t.co/OU3FNSSHHu

— Thomas Silkjær (@Silkjaer) January 31, 2024

“At the moment, I cannot share more detailed information. However, as usual, I will repeat that some exchanges are much more responsive than others. Thank you for your cooperation,” he wrote.

In January, the crypto industry suffered losses of approximately $126.8 million due to hacks and fraud, according to Immunefi. Larsen’s theft was not included in this statistic.