Cryptocurrency Exchange HTX Suffers Major Hack, Loses 5000 ETH

Table of Contents

• HTX Suffers Hack 
• Hackers Given A Chance To Return Funds 
• Recent Rebranding 

Cryptocurrency exchange HTX (formerly Huobi) has become the latest victim of a hack, losing 5000 ETH worth around $7.9 million, as revealed by company advisor Justin Sun. 

Sun added that the exchange has fully covered the losses suffered during the attack and resolved all other related issues. 

HTX Suffers Hack 

The details regarding the hack were revealed by Tron founder Justin Sun, also the HTX exchange advisor. Sun took to X, formerly Twitter, to disclose the details regarding the hack. The HTX advisor stated, 

“HTX @HTX_Global has suffered a loss of 5,000 #Eth ($8 million USD) due to a hacker attack. HTX has fully covered the losses incurred from the attack and has successfully resolved all related issues. All user assets are #SAFU, and the platform is operating completely normally.”

Sun also shared the Ethereum addresses that were associated with the hacker behind the exploit, which include 0xdb1 and 0x799. He revealed that approximately $6.3 million is located in the 0xdb1 wallet. He also assured users that the stolen funds represented a very small sum compared to the over $3 billion worth of assets held by the exchange users. Sun stressed that the stolen funds represented just two weeks’ worth of revenue for the HTX platform. It was further revealed that the exchange had fully covered all losses incurred during the hack and had resolved all related issues. The post further added, 

“We detected the hack immediately after the incident yesterday (6 pm SGT 9/24/2023) and took swift action to prevent any losses. As a result, all funds are secure, and trading operations have continued as usual. We promptly addressed and resolved all issues, restoring the platform to its normal state without delay.”

Hackers Given A Chance To Return Funds 

Sun added that HTX was giving the hacker a chance to return the stolen funds. To this effect, the exchange was offering 5% of the stolen amount, roughly $400,000, as a white hat incentive. If the hacker returns the funds, HTX said it would consider hiring the hacker as a security consultant for the exchange. However, the exchange also warned that if the funds are not returned within seven days, the company will turn over all details and accounts of the hacker to the relevant law enforcement agencies and pursue legal action against them. 

The platform’s native HT token is trading at around $2.43, dropping by 1.24% over the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. 

Recent Rebranding 

The attack comes less than two weeks after the cryptocurrency exchange rebranded itself and changed its name from Huobi to HTX. The trading platform hopes the rebrand will help boost user adoption as it looks to expand its presence in more jurisdictions. The rebranding was announced on the 13th of September, explaining that the ‘H’ represents the first letter of Huobi, T represents Justin Sun’s Tron project, while X represents the exchange itself. 

Another way to interpret HTX is that ‘HT’ stands for the native token of the platform, and X symbolizes the exchange. X is also the Roman numeral for 10, paying tribute to the exchange’s ten year anniversary. 

“HTX plans to expand business globally by venturing into new markets with promising prospects across various countries and regions while maintaining a balanced growth. HTX aims to keep ahead of the latest developments in the crypto market.”

The news about the rebranding was announced at TOKEN2049, for which Huobi (HTX) was invited. Other major players in the crypto space, including Circle, Lido, Pantera Capital, Animoca Brands, CertiK, Polygon, and others, also attended the event. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.