The HTX and the HECO Chain have been hacked again with reports suggesting between $85 million and $100 million in losses.
The crypto exchange HTX (previously known as Huobi) and the HECO chain have been hacked. On-chain security alerts platform Cyvers Alerts reported the news, stating that a suspicious address received about $85 million in multiple suspicious transactions from the HECO chain bridge, noting that the first transaction was 10,145 ETH. Cyvers Alerts founder and CTO Meir Dolev added that the total value of the transactions is $100 million.
We are detecting multiple suspicious transactions on @HTX_Global hot wallets and on @HECO_Chain bridge that were probably executed by the same entity, total value of $100M.
— Meir Dolev (@Meir_Dv) November 22, 2023
HTX advisor Justin Sun took to X to confirm the attack. In the post, Sun confirmed the attack, promising that all HTX funds are secure and adding that the “community can rest assured.” Sun added that all deposits and withdrawals on the platform are temporarily suspended until investigation is complete.
Blockchain security platform PeckShield initially posted a “suspicious huge withdrawal of 10,145 ETH, about $19 million. In a subsequent post, the platform noted that the total amount stolen was $86.6 million in ETH, LINK, TUSD, USDC, SUNI, SHIB, HBTC, and USDT. The largest was 42 million USDT.
HTX Hacked Again
The recent HECO Chain hack is the second hack this year. In September, HTX lost nearly $8 million to hackers who successfully stole 5,000 ETH from the company. At the time, Sun also quickly assured in an X post that HTX has covered the losses and resolved all related issues. At the time, Sun said it was a small amount in comparison to the $3 billion held by users of the HTX platform. He added that the amount is equivalent to only two weeks of revenue.
Sun also noted that HTX was willing to offer 5% of the amount ($400,000) to the hacker as a white hat reward if they returned the funds within seven days. Adding that HTX will hire the person as a white hat advisor. Days later, Sun announced that the hacker “fully returned all funds.” He also added that HTX paid the hacker “a white hat bonus of 250 ETH,” equivalent to $506,000 at current rates.
Justin Sun’s Poloniex Also Breached
Unfortunately, Justin Sun’s crypto exchange Poloniex was also recently hacked. On November 10, Poloniex lost more than $126 million in a hack, as confirmed by transactions on the Ethereum blockchain explorer Etherscan. Peckershield revealed Etherscan transactions showing transfers from the “Poloniex 4” wallet to a wallet controlled by the hacker. Coins lost include ETH, TRON, USDT, TUSD, PEPE, SHIB, and FLOKI. In addition, blockchain data from crypto intelligence platform Arkham Intelligence shows that the hackers also made away with 865 Bitcoins and more than 288 million TRX. Poloniex suspended withdrawals when it happened.
Sun offered the hacker a 5% white hat bounty on the day, allowing 7 days to return the funds.
According to an official statement from the company, a few days after a few days, deposits and withdrawal services are restored. Nonetheless, Sun has raised the reward for the hack to $10 million, and threatened to involve law enforcement authorities if the hacker does not return the funds by November 25.
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