With the growing series of attacks on crypto exchange companies, industry experts could call for stricter security standards within the space and more effective oversight within the cryptocurrency exchanges.
Lykke, a Switzerland crypto exchange, has fallen victim to a cyberattack, resulting in the loss of over $22 million worth of digital assets. The exchange company revealed the incident on its X page, admitting that the attack occurred on June 4. In a swift response, the affected systems have been shut down, while the identified lapses have been thoroughly examined and fully addressed.
Earlier, before the exchange released a statement, SomaXBT, a web3 security researcher, stated on their X page that Lykke has been exploited, with an unknown entity withdrawing 158 BTC and 2161 ETH, a situation which the Lykke team wasn’t ready to disclose before being called out. The blockchain security firm further revealed that all stolen ETH had been swapped to DAI, and BTC had been moved to multiple wallets.
However, in the same release by Lykke, the team stated that it possesses strong capital and has a diverse portfolio, therefore assured clients and users that their funds are safe. They also revealed that a criminal investigation against the culprit is ongoing. Additionally, the company has started a process of recovering stolen funds by contracting a cybersecurity firm to assist in blocking and recovering stolen digital assets. They stated:
“A criminal investigation against this person is ongoing. An external cybersecurity company has been contracted and is working on blocking and recovering the stolen assets.”
The exchange also tendered apologies to their users for the inconvenience the attack caused. They also highlighted the need to shut down for now, explaining:
“We are keeping the exchange closed as a preventive measure. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience and concern this attack has caused all affected clients and partners.”
Similar Recent Attacks on Cryptocurrency Exchanges
A similar hacking occurred on April 29, when Rain, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Bahrain, lost $14.1 million worth of BTC. This news was first revealed by ZachXBT, a blockchain security firm, and later acknowledged by the exchange company. Rain Group later revealed that it had covered potential losses that could have occurred due to the attack.
Additionally, Japanese exchange DMM lost more than $305 million worth of BTC due to its system hack on May 30. The company covered the situation on its website and promised that all used deposits would be fully guaranteed. The exchange also temporarily stopped withdrawing and opening new accounts and all new leveraged orders.
Thus, with the growing series of attacks on crypto exchange companies, industry experts could call for stricter security standards within the space and more effective oversight within the cryptocurrency exchanges. Furthermore, there is also a need for more collaboration between exchanges, security experts, and law enforcement agencies to discuss matters of security threat and how to mitigate the threat of future attacks.
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