TL;DR
- The hack: 213 million XRP ($112M) stolen, triggering concerns and illicit transactions.
- Impact on XRP: XRP price falls to $0.5070, aggravating bearish trend with -19% in 30 days.
- Larsen Confirmation: Chris Larsen confirms unauthorized access, takes quick action and cooperates with authorities.
In a surprising turn of events, the Co-Founder of the blockchain payments firm Ripple, Chris Larsen, has been the victim of a massive hack, with more than 213 million XRP, valued at more than $112 million, stolen. However, it was later confirmed that the event only affected Larsen’s personal account.
The security breach was discovered by decentralized finance (DeFi) sleuth ZachXBT, raising serious concerns about the security of Ripple’s protocol and triggering a series of illicit transactions with the stolen XRP.
ZachXBT revealed that the stolen funds were subsequently laundered through various cryptocurrency exchange platforms, including MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, HitBTC, and other undisclosed platforms.
It appears @Ripple was hacked for ~213M XRP ($112.5M)
Source address
rJNLz3A1qPKfWCtJLPhmMZAfBkutC2QojmSo far the stolen funds have been laundered through MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, HitBTC, etc pic.twitter.com/HKGYsLQeMv
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) January 31, 2024
Eight transactions were made to different addresses, as revealed by the blockchain.
News of the hack had an immediate impact on the price of XRP, which plummeted to $0.5070 and continued to decline until reaching a low of $0.4860.
This revelation intensified the downward trend that had already seen a decline of 19% in the last 30 days and 4% in the last 24 hours.
Chris Larsen confirmed that there was unauthorized access
He commented on the breach in some of his personal XRP accounts, clarifying that they were not official Ripple accounts.
Yesterday, there was unauthorized access to a few of my personal XRP accounts (not @Ripple) – we were quickly able to catch the problem and notify exchanges to freeze the affected addresses. Law enforcement is already involved. https://t.co/T3HtKSlzLg
— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) January 31, 2024
The quick response to the situation involved freezing the affected addresses by notifying the relevant exchanges.
Larsen also highlighted the intervention of legal authorities to address the incident.
As of this writing, Ripple officials have not issued any further official statements regarding the hack, keeping the situation in a critical state and raising questions about the measures the company will take to address the security breach and strengthen its infrastructure.
Technical analysis shows that the next crucial support for XRP lies at the $0.4876 level, which prevented further decline after the news broke.
If this level fails to hold, the next support lies at $0.4686, which could lead to a continuation of the downtrend.
Ripple faces a major challenge following the hack, with significant consequences on the value of XRP.
Collaboration with authorities and the measures the company takes to address the security breach will be crucial to restoring trust in the platform.
