Crypto trading firm Kronos Research offers 10% bounty to hacker
|Taipei-based cryptocurrency trading and investment firm Kronos Research has opened doors for negotiations with a hacker who made off with $25 million of the firm's treasury early this month.
In a message to the hacker, Kronos said, send back 90% of the stolen funds, and we'll drop this matter, Etherscan show.
Last week, the Taiwanese trading and VC firm reported via a post on X that an unauthorized entity gained access to its API keys. Onchain experts ZachXBT and Lookonchain later confirmed that the attacker made off with $25 million, mostly in stablecoins.
"At present, we can confirm that the losses are about $26 million in crypto assets, and despite it being a sizable amount, Kronos remains in good standing. All losses will be covered internally, and no partners will be affected," the firm later posted on X.
KronosResearch was attacked and lost ~$25.65M, including 24.57M $USDT, 488.7 $ETH($959K) and 125,056 $USDC.
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) November 19, 2023
24.57M $USDT was swapped to 12,457 $ETH and 125,056 $USDC was swapped to 63.6 $ETH.
All 13,010 $ETH was transferred to 7 wallets, of which 1 $ETH to #ChangeNOW. pic.twitter.com/FztcM8YZHS
KronosResearch was attacked and lost ~$25.65M, including 24.57M $USDT, 488.7 $ETH($959K) and 125,056 $USDC.
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) November 19, 2023
24.57M $USDT was swapped to 12,457 $ETH and 125,056 $USDC was swapped to 63.6 $ETH.
All 13,010 $ETH was transferred to 7 wallets, of which 1 $ETH to #ChangeNOW. pic.twitter.com/FztcM8YZHS
Public, on-chain negotiations between hackers and their victims have become increasingly common.
Recently, the attacker behind an exploit of KyberSwap signed one of the transactions that pilfered funds from the decentralized exchange, stating that they would begin negotiations when they were "fully rested." KyberSwap offered them a 10% bounty to return stolen funds.
In August, Curve Finance offered hackers a 10% bounty in exchange for the return of the stolen crypto, also negotiated via transaction signing.
Over $1.2 billion has been stolen from Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols this year, according to DeFiLlama.
Information on these pages contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Markets and instruments profiled on this page are for informational purposes only and should not in any way come across as a recommendation to buy or sell in these assets. You should do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions. FXStreet does not in any way guarantee that this information is free from mistakes, errors, or material misstatements. It also does not guarantee that this information is of a timely nature. Investing in Open Markets involves a great deal of risk, including the loss of all or a portion of your investment, as well as emotional distress. All risks, losses and costs associated with investing, including total loss of principal, are your responsibility. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FXStreet nor its advertisers.