Binance freezes $5.3M, stolen by hackers from a Turkish crypto exchange

On Jun 23, 2024

The Binance team has been assisting Turkish crypto exchange BtcTurk to recover stolen funds.

BTCTurk is one of Turkey’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, established in 2013. It allows users to trade a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. BTCTurk provides a secure platform for buying, selling, and storing digital assets, and offers features such as advanced trading options and a mobile app for easy access. It is known for its robust security measures and user-friendly interface, catering to both newbie and experienced traders.

On 22 June 2024, the BtcTurk team stated that only a portion of the balances of 10 cryptocurrencies in their hot wallets were affected by the cyber attack, while the majority of assets held in their cold wallets remained secure.

In the hacking incident, the hacker succeeded in draining nearly $54 million worth of crypto assets.

BtcTurk, one of Turkey's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, said it was attacked on June 22, and cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals have been stopped. Officials said that some balances in the hot wallets of 10 cryptocurrencies were affected, and the cold wallets that hold…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) June 22, 2024

Binance crypto exchange is assisting in the investigation of this cyber attack on the Turkish crypto exchange BtcTurk. At this stage, over $5 million in stolen funds have been frozen.

That identified hacker tried to sell his crypto assets via sending on the Binance crypto exchange but the Binance team suddenly froze the funds.

Binance CEO Richard Teng stated that the Binance team will continuously support such investigations to combat bad actors. He also mentioned that updates will be provided on this matter if new developments occur.

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Binance is assisting BtcTurk with investigations and have frozen over $5.3M in stolen funds so far.

Our investigations & security teams work around the clock as part of our proactive efforts to protect the ecosystem from bad actors. We will provide further updates as relevant. https://t.co/8j6uMgOPm6
— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) June 22, 2024

Popular crypto detective ZachXBT praised the role of the Binance team in recovering this small amount of funds and further criticized all the KYC measures followed by the crypto exchange.

ZachXBT pointed out that KYC and compliance measures are generally ineffective against actual threats, whether on regulated or offshore exchanges. He noted that exchanges are merely following laws and regulations, but the real difference lies in those that build teams to handle threats and take feedback seriously.

This crypto detective criticized some regulated exchanges for being disconnected from real issues, using a US exchange’s failure to freeze sanctioned funds as an example while highlighting Binance’s proactive security efforts despite media criticism.

The harsh reality about KYC and compliance in general is that it’s quite ineffective for any actual threats (does not matter whether it’s regulated or offshore exchanges)

It’s not really the exchanges fault they are just trying to meet laws/regulations.

Main difference…
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 22, 2024

Three weeks ago, Switzerland-based crypto exchange Lykke suffered a hack attack & lost nearly $22 million worth of crypto assets.

Lykke UK and Lykke Corp AG (Lykke) suffered an attack on their infrastructure on June 4. The affected systems were immediately shut down to limit damage. The identified security breaches have been thoroughly examined and fully addressed.
— Lykke✨Zero-fee crypto exchange✨ (@lykke) June 10, 2024