KuCoin CEO took to Twitter and informed the community that suspects of security breach have been identified. Police and law enforcement agencies are also involved in the investigation.
Police and Law Enforcement Officials are also Involved in the Investigation
CEO Johnny Lyu of KuCoin updated the community that the company has “substantial proof at hand.” Before this, he said that the team was working to recover funds. However, shortly after the incident, the company announced to cover lost funds of users.
On Sep.26, the exchange told the users’ community about the security breach and had terminated deposits and withdrawals at all. At that time, it said nearly $150 million had stolen from the hot wallets of the exchange. It was not only Bitcoin, but hackers had also drained Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, and many other coins. But reports published by many blockchain data firms claimed assets worth more than $200 dollars washed away in a theft attack by hackers.
On Oct.1, KuCoin CEO said the team of the exchange had recovered $64 million with assistance from other platform partners. Soon after the attack, Tether and Bitfinex froze USDT worth millions of dollars. Similarly, Velo Labs also prevented funds from loss.
Earlier reports claimed hackers used decentralized exchange for the purpose of laundering money. Almost $13 million has been withdrawn through decentralized exchanges. But Chainalysis’s latest report stated that KuCoin thieves also sent funds to centralized exchanges to buy Bitcoin. Hackers transferred $9 million in different cryptocurrencies to centralized exchanges to buy 875 BTC and out of which 683 BTC moved to different mixing platforms. According to Chainalysis’s analysis, cybercriminals drained nearly $281 million from KuCoin’s hot wallets.
Turning to Normal State
The trading volume of the trading site has reduced significantly after the incident. It may be due to the termination of deposits and withdrawals for major coins. However, it has returned to a normal state to some extent as deposits for 31 tokens have become functional. But still, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT are left. Based on the previous data, it is the first exchange used for laundering funds.