Binance CEO Highlights Recovery of $6.1 Million Post KiloEx Hack

Binance’s CEO highlighted the company’s crucial role in recovering $6.1 million stolen from KiloEx due to a hacker’s exploit. The funds were retrieved through rapid coordination with security teams in response to a significant hack involving manipulated cryptocurrency pricing. The hacker agreed to return most of the stolen assets after negotiations, with Binance facilitating the recovery.

Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, has recently announced the substantial role Binance played in recovering stolen cryptocurrency following a significant hack. This incident involved the price oracle mechanism of the decentralised exchange, KiloEx, which was exploited just two weeks ago, leading to an estimated loss of around $7.5 million. Binance’s involvement has resulted in the recovery of approximately $6.1 million, nearly 90% of the funds taken by the hacker.

In his update, Teng linked to an article on the Binance website that elaborated on the company’s swift response to the hack. The Binance security teams quickly mobilised, collaborating with other entities in the crypto community to tackle the attack. The hack specifically targeted the oracle mechanism designed to feed real-world price data into the DEX, which is crucial for accurate trading.

Details of the hack reveal that the perpetrator obscured the origins of funds by using Tornado Cash to funnel money into their DEX wallet. They exploited access controls within the oracle mechanism, misleading the system into believing that tokens were worth significantly less than their market value. This deception enabled the hacker to make unauthorised trades and withdraw approximately $8.44 million before KiloEx could react.

Following the hack, which was first reported by the KiloEx community on April 15, Binance’s security team, alongside BNB Chain, deployed an emergency response within half an hour. They quickly identified and blacklisted the blockchain addresses involved in the exploit, coordinating with other cross-chain bridge platforms to block further access from those wallets.

At the same time, KiloEx was in negotiations with the hacker. They escalated matters by involving law enforcement regarding the incident. Ultimately, the hacker agreed to return 90% of the stolen crypto, retaining 10% as a bounty for their actions while also ending any further investigation and ensuring their wallets were removed from the blacklist.