Hackers make off with 7,000 bitcoin worth US$40 million from Binance Exchange in a large scale security breach

Hackers used a variety of techniques including phishing and viruses to obtain user data, according to Binance

Bitcoin had pared some losses as of 10:05am in Hong Kong after dropping as much as 3.1 per cent to a low of US$5,665

Reading Time:2 minutes

A hooded man holds a laptop computer as blue screen with an exclamation mark is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. Capitalising on spying tools believed to have been developed by the US National Security Agency, hackers staged a cyber assault with a self-spreading malware that has infected tens of thousands of computers in nearly 100 countries. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:12pm, 8 May 2019Updated: 4:12pm, 8 May 2019

Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, said hackers withdrew 7,000 bitcoin worth about US$40 million via a single transaction in a “large scale security breach,” the latest in a long line of thefts in the digital currency space.

The hackers used a “variety of techniques” including phishing and viruses to obtain a large amount of user data, Binance said in a post on its website. There may be additional accounts that have been affected but not yet identified, Binance said.

The company will use its Secure Asset Fund for Users, an emergency insurance fund, to cover the incident in full and no user funds will be affected, it said.

The transaction was limited to Binance’s BTC hot wallet, which contains about 2 per cent of the company’s Bitcoin holdings, according to the post. Other wallets are secure and unharmed, the exchange said.

The 7,000 bitcoin are worth roughly US$40 million, based on current Bitcoin composite pricing calculated by Bloomberg.