- In a shocking turn of events, Ripple’s co-founder and executive chairman, Chris Larson, has become the latest victim of a substantial cryptocurrency heist.
- Reports indicate that hackers successfully breached Larson’s personal XRP wallets, making off with a staggering $112 million worth of the popular cryptocurrency.
Ripple’s Co-Founder Loses Big
The incident, first brought to light by prominent crypto analyst ZachXBT, unveiled the magnitude of the security breach. According to ZachXBT, the hackers targeted one of Ripple’s wallets, pilfering approximately 213 million XRP. The stolen funds, now valued at over $100 million, have already been set in motion through major centralized crypto exchanges, such as Binance and Kraken.
Confirming the breach, Larson admitted that the compromised wallets belonged to him personally and not the Ripple organization. Swiftly responding to the attack, Larson’s team took immediate action by notifying exchanges to freeze the affected addresses. Additionally, law enforcement has been engaged to investigate the matter and apprehend the perpetrators.
Laundering the Stolen Wealth
ZachXBT’s revelations sparked a flurry of responses within the crypto community. The post-hack analysis unveiled that the stolen XRP funds had been laundered through various crypto exchanges and platforms. Both Binance and Kraken have acknowledged the incident, with Binance spokesperson Simon Matthews expressing the company’s active support for the investigation.
However, the ownership and control of the hacked wallet remain unclear. On-chain data from XRPScan reveals that the compromised wallet, labeled “Ripple (50),” was activated by a separate wallet called “~FundingWallet1.” This funding wallet, in turn, was activated by Larson’s account, raising questions about the potential involvement of Ripple’s infrastructure.
Ripple’s Response and Market Impact
In response to inquiries, Ripple’s spokesperson Stacey Ngo clarified that the company itself was not impacted by the breach. Ripple, a key player in the crypto space since 2012, aspires to be a leading payments and enterprise infrastructure provider through its network, protocol, and decentralized public ledger, XRP Ledger.
The aftermath of the hack has seen a 4% decline in the market capitalization of XRP, amounting to $27.4 billion. This incident now stands as the largest cryptocurrency theft in 2024 and the twentieth largest in recorded history, according to data compiled by Rekt, a platform tracking crypto breaches.
As the crypto community grapples with the implications of this massive breach, calls for transparency in disclosing crypto holdings have emerged among XRP holders. Some advocate for the distancing of Chris Larson from Ripple, emphasizing the need to minimize potential fallout from the incident.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of cryptocurrency, security breaches of this magnitude underscore the importance of vigilance and proactive measures to safeguard digital assets. The ripple effects of this hack are sure to reverberate throughout the crypto space, prompting renewed discussions on the industry’s vulnerabilities and potential solutions.
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