Binance is reportedly helping in the investigation of a cyber attack on Turkish crypto exchange BtcTurk, with over $5 million in stolen funds frozen so far, according to CEO Richard Teng.
“Binance is assisting BtcTurk with investigations and has frozen over $5.3 million in stolen funds so far,” Teng announced in a post on social media platform X.
BtcTurk reported that the attack primarily targeted hot wallets, which are internet-connected crypto wallets used for frequent transactions. While hot wallets offer efficiency, they are more susceptible to cyber attacks compared to offline cold storage solutions.
“Only a portion of the balances of 10 cryptocurrencies in our hot wallets were affected by this cyber attack, while the majority of assets held in our cold wallets remain secure,” read a Google-translated statement from BtcTurk, which serves over five million users.
Binance CEO Richard Teng informed his followers that the exchange’s investigations and security teams are working tirelessly to protect the crypto ecosystem. “Our investigations & security teams work around the clock as part of our proactive efforts to protect the ecosystem from bad actors. We will provide further updates as relevant,” Teng stated.
Blockchain investigator ZackXBT commended Binance for its proactive stance. “Binance gets crucified by the media when in reality their security team generally does more for victims + goes out of their way to assist in incident response,” he stated on June 22.
As of the latest update, BtcTurk CEO Özgür Güneri has not made a public statement regarding the attack.
This incident follows other recent security breaches in the crypto industry. Just days prior, Switzerland-based crypto exchange Lykke halted withdrawals after suffering an exploit on June 4. Blockchain security researcher SomaXBT accused Lykke of attempting to conceal the breach, stating, “@lykke CTX got exploited and lost $19.5 million worth crypto assets but the team is still trying to hide this fact.”