Exmo hackers cash out stolen funds from Poloniex
As reported by BTC PEERS on December 21, UK-based crypto exchange, Exmo, was hacked and funds were stolen. Despite a plea from Exmo to other exchanges and service providers to block the accounts associated with the hack, it appears the hackers may have outsmarted them.
According to Exmo, about $4 million of the stolen funds have been withdrawn through the Poloniex exchange. A spokesperson at Poloniex Compliance Department confirmed the withdrawal to Cointelegraph, stating that:
After we received the information from the Exmo team, we quickly identified and froze the two accounts. Unfortunately, all affected assets had been withdrawn hours before we were even contacted by Exmo.
Exmo alleges that the hackers managed to withdraw $2.8 million in ZEC and $1 million in XRP. Meanwhile, Exmo has accused Poloniex of weak Anti-Money Laundering measures, reporting the latter to the Seychelles Central Bank.
It should be noted that Exmo had earlier assured those affected of refunds. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Depending on how this is handled, this could spell the end of the exchange. Moreover, no details have been given on how the hackers gained access to user accounts or whether the issue has been fixed. A December 23 security incident update, however, said that the exchange expects to resume withdrawals from major cryptos between Dec. 25 and 26.
