Binance Freezes Stolen XRP; Alleged FTX Hackers Identified; Polygon Labs Announces Major Layoffs
Summary:
Binance aided Ripple’s co-founder, Chris Larsen, by freezing $4.2 million worth of stolen XRP following a hack on Larsen's personal wallet. In another development, three individuals have been linked to a sim-swap attack that resulted in the theft of $400 million from FTX crypto exchange in 2022. Furthermore, Polygon Labs is reducing its staff by 19% to streamline operations, marking the second year of significant layoffs at the company.
Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, received assistance from Binance when the crypto-exchange froze $4.2 million of XRP that a hacker had stolen from him. Meanwhile, three suspects have been connected to the 2022 cyber-theft of $400 million from the crypto marketplace FTX, allegedly conducted via a sim-swap attack. Elsewhere in the crypto sector, Polygon Labs has dismissed 19% of its staff with the aim of boosting efficiency.
Binance intervened when $4.2 million worth of XRP was stolen from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen's personal wallet amid a larger hack of $112 million on January 31st. The CEO of Binance, Richard Teng, announced this action in a public statement. He applauded investigative blockchain expert ZachXBT and the Ripple personnel for their collaboration and assistance in the matter. The perpetrator behind the theft did not use any decentralized exchanges or crypto-mixing services to conceal their identity, which is a noteworthy departure from recent trends in cyber crime. Larsen acknowledged that his personal XRP wallets had been violated and that 213 million XRP had gone missing.
The cyber-crime that took $400 million from the FTX cryptocurrency exchange in 2022 has been linked to three individuals who have been charged by prosecutors in the United States. These individuals are believed to have executed a series of sim-swap heists. Shortly after FTX declared bankruptcy, the theft occurred. A legal filing in the District Court of Washington D.C. on January 24th accused Robert Powell, Carter Rohn, and Emily Hernandez of committing SIM swap heists. They allegedly stole the identities of 50 victims and persuaded telecom companies to transfer these victims' phone numbers to their own mobile devices.
The court document also describes an attack on a "Victim Company-1” which is believed to be FTX according to a blog post from the blockchain security firm Elliptic as well as a Bloomberg report.
In other industry news, Polygon Labs, a developer for the Polygon platform, announced significant staff cuts on February 1st. CEO Marc Boiron published a blog post stating that the company will be letting go of 60 people in an effort to streamline operations. He admitted it was a painful decision but explained it was a necessary step for the company's performance. Consequently, the remaining staff will receive a pay increase of 15%. The February layoffs were not the first for Polygon. A year earlier, it reduced its workforce by 20%, which amounted to roughly 100 people at the time.
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Published At
2/2/2024 2:25:16 PM
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