HTX Hacker Makes Off With $8 Million

Crypto exchange HTX experienced a security breach over the weekend that resulted in the loss of $8 million worth of crypto assets.

In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), HTX stakeholder Justin Sun confirmed the news, detailing that the hacker managed to steal 5,000 ETH (worth around $8 million) from the exchange. 

Sun assured users that the losses have been covered by the exchange, adding that user deposits remain secure and the platform is functioning normally.

The crypto veteran also claimed that the stolen funds constitute only a small amount of the platform’s revenue.

“$8 million represents a relatively small sum in comparison to the $3 billion worth of assets held by our users. It also amounts to just two weeks’ revenue for the HTX platform,” he wrote. 

“As a result, all funds are secure, and trading operations have continued as usual. We promptly addressed and resolved all issues, restoring the platform to its normal state without delay.”

The hacker's addresses are 0xdb1D74467c9042517A354304256E0d658D8AEC83 and 0x799982b75Ba538F211871cBa50Fa1A42ADa9ab5E

— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) September 25, 2023

Sun Offers 5% Bounty in Return for Stolen Funds

In a public statement on X, Sun also made an offer to the hacker responsible for the attack. 

The crypto boss offered a 5% bounty for the return of the stolen funds, along with the opportunity for employment at the exchange.

“If the hacker returns the funds, we will also hire them as a security white hat advisor for HTX,” he wrote. 

However, Sun warned that if the hacker does not return stolen funds within the next seven days, they will contact law enforcement. 

According to DeFiLlama, HTX (formerly known as Huobi) witnessed approximately $10 million in outflows following the incident. The exchange still holds $2.73 million in customer deposits.

Notably, the hack went largely unnoticed until security firm Cyvers Alerts posted a thread about the attack at 9:35 am ET on Sunday. 

Approximately an hour later, Justin Sun confirmed the security breach.

Meanwhile, an address labeled as an HTX hot wallet by Nansen sent the hacker a series of messages in both English and simplified Chinese Monday morning. 

The messages stated that the exchange had identified the hacker’s true identity, asking them to return the funds to a specific address. 

It offered a 5% “white hat” bonus as an incentive for the return of the funds, with the offer valid until October 2, 2023. 

Nevertheless, the incident had a moderate impact on Tron’s native token TRX, which is currently trading at $0.084921, largely flat over the past day.