Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple (XRP) has seen his personal wallet hacked for 213M (worth over $100M USD at the time of writing).
The XRPL blockchain itself was not compromised, as the incident was isolated to Larsen’s wallets despite misinformation circling on X (Twitter).
However, the price of XRP is down ~3% over the past week, being the only negative performer of the crypto top ten.
No information about how the hack occurred has been made public yet.
XRP (formerly Ripple) co-founder Chris Larsen was hacked yesterday to the tune of 213M XRP – worth approximately USD $112M (AUD $170M) at the time. The news follows a furore on crypto social media, particularly X, as false and misleading reports circled that the Ripple Ledger itself had been hacked after being discovered by X user ZachXBT.
It appears @Ripple was hacked for ~213M XRP ($112.5M)
Source address
rJNLz3A1qPKfWCtJLPhmMZAfBkutC2Qojm
So far the stolen funds have been laundered through MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, HitBTC, etc pic.twitter.com/HKGYsLQeMv
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) January 31, 2024
Chris Larsen responded to the rumours circling that Ripple had been hacked, emphasising that it was his personal holdings affected and the attack had nothing to do with the broader ecosystem:
This is an isolated incident, and Ripple wallets are secure / were never compromised. We’ve confirmed nearly all the affected funds were converted out of XRP. We’re working with law enforcement…”
Chris Larsen
Current CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, weighed in on the drama:
Given some irresponsible speculation and reporting, I want to reiterate that NO Ripple-managed wallets were compromised. Full stop.
Brad Garlinghouse
XRP Value Falls Amid Compromise
Although the XRPL network itself is as secure as ever, some in the community are still a little miffed about the optics of the hack. Of course, Larsen is the victim here, and losing hundreds of millions of dollars is a massive blow. But, some XRP holders are lamenting that if the founder of Ripple can’t keep his own assets secure, what does that say about the security of the ecosystem as a whole?
I will get TONs of hate for this but I will always keep it real with you guys. I have no emotional or religious connections to any tokens. I am an #XRP holder.
I think it is time for Chris Larsen to distance himself from Ripple as much as possible. In 2022 he donated to… pic.twitter.com/EQvD1rcReE
— Tony Edward (Thinking Crypto Podcast) (@ThinkingCrypto1) January 31, 2024
XRP itself has fallen 1.5% in the past 24 hours and nearly 3% in the last week – and is the only asset in the top ten by market cap to report a red week (to date). However, the negative effects of the hack appear to be minimal for the time being, as the XRP figureheads quickly move into damage control. Hopefully, this will just be a blip on the radar for the global decentralised currency as it looks to achieve widespread adoption over the coming decade.
Author
Ben Knight
Ben Knight is a writer and editor from Melbourne with a passion for all things music and finance. He enjoys turning complex topics – especially the technical details of cryptocurrency – into digestible bites that anybody can understand. He acquired his Master’s in Writing, Editing and Publishing from RMIT in 2019 and has run his own creative writing business ever since.
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