Analyst estimates KuCoin hack damage at $280 million

An unknown hacker could have withdrawn from the KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange nearly twice as much as previously estimated. This conclusion was reached by The Block analyst Larry Cermak.

To assess the damage, he analyzed wallets presumably linked to KuCoin. According to the analyst, the attackers stole nearly $280 million, not the $150 million previously cited. This would make the KuCoin hack the third-largest in cryptocurrency history.

So I did some accounting of the KuCoin hack based on the wallets very likely associated and based on my estimation, there was nearly $280 million of assets stolen, not $150M. This would make it the third-largest hack in history and 7 times larger than the Binance hack last year.. pic.twitter.com/iESWm1EGPh

— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) September 28, 2020

Cermak acknowledged that some of these tokens “were frozen, forked and blacklisted.” But he doubted that KuCoin would be able to cover the stolen funds through the insurance fund.

“I believe there is almost no chance of fixing this,” the analyst said.

Yes, some of these tokens have been frozen, forked, and blacklisted. And the amounts above don’t reflect that. But it’s quite odd to me that KuCoin is confident they can cover these amounts with the insurance fund. My opinion is that there is almost no chance this is recoverable

— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) September 28, 2020

In his view, about 50% of all stolen tokens will be recovered. Among them are Velo ($76 million), Tether ($22 million), Orion ($10 million), KardiaChain ($10 million), Ocean Protocol ($9 million), VIDT Datalink ($7 million), NOIA Network ($5 million) and Covesting ($600 000).

Earlier, on September 26, KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu confirmed the hackers’ attack on the exchange. Observers estimated that the unauthorized withdrawals from hot wallets amounted to $150 million.

To launder the stolen funds, the attackers used the decentralized exchanges Uniswap and Kyber Network.

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