By
Steve Muchoki
May 10th, 2024
Canadian crypto exchange MapleChange has suffered a hacking attack, which resulted in the loss of the whole consumer-owned funds.
With the development of cryptocurrencies, the number of issues is increasing as well. The most pressing problem is connected with hacks. The amount of cyberattacks, big thefts and money laundering activities is rapidly arising within the cryptocommunity, and it can hardly be stopped.
The canadian cryptocurrency exchange MapleChange has recently announced on its Twitter that it had become the victim to a hack, which resulted in a loss of consumer-owned funds.
https://twitter.com/MapleChangeEx/status/1056579816239943681
The attack affected the exchange on Sunday morning. According to the company, they had a bug that allowed attackers to withdraw all the funds held by the exchange.
https://twitter.com/MapleChangeEx/status/1056582662435954688
In order to investigate the arrack and find a solutin, MapleChange suspended users’ accounts. Further, the exchange informed that they would not be able to refund anything to the users until the investigation is over.
https://twitter.com/MapleChangeEx/status/1056663998051975168
Following the investigation, the platform said it would not be able to refund all customers as “the exchange has to close down, unfortunately. This includes all our social media.”
The MapleChange’s hack had a quick coverage across the Twitter environment and within the crypto community. Joseph Young, a crypto-centric journalist and analyst, shared his view on the incident. He believes that the hack is an exit scam. Such a scam is based on gaining trust of some customers, gather their funds and then take oll the money away. In case with cryptocurrencies, you are left without your coins if you don’t have your own private keys. From Young’s point of view, small exchanges are only focused on maximizing profitability, that’s why they pull off exit scams.
https://twitter.com/iamjosephyoung/status/1056610591152922624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1056610591152922624&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fethereumworldnews.com%2Fmaplechange-crypto-exchange-hacked-for-913-bitcoin-btc-exit-scam-likely%2F
Changpeng Zhao, the well-known CEO of Binance, noted that users should be cautious and avoid exchanges that don’t have access to cold wallets at all costs.
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1056616354529337344
Currently, there is no more information on the issue. It is not clear whether the funds will be able to be recovered.
Ever Increasing Number of Crypto Hacks
The incident is not the first time of a hacking attack. The crypto community still remembers the attack in January 2018, when the cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck lost a whopping $500 million in NEM tokens.
In September, Japanese crypto exchange Zaif, operated by Tech Bereau Inc., became a victim to hack, losing worth $60 million worth of Bitcoins. As was previously reported by Coinspeaker, the hacked cryptocurrency exchange immediately suspended all deposits and withdrawals while filing a criminal case with the local investigative authorities. The hack was one of the biggest cyber attacks of the year was recorded in September.
In October, U.S.-based cybersecurity firm CipherTrace conducted a research to assess the losses caused by hacks. According to their report, hackers stole $927 million from the cryptocurrency exchanges during the first nine months of 2018, which is 3.5 times higher compared with the previous year. By the end of this year this scaring number is about to grow up to $1 billion.
There are still no any means to steer clear from crypto hacks. Each investor is to sume extent vulnerable. The only piece of advice is to be careful investing significant amounts of money into the crypto industry.