- The perpetrators of last week’s KuCoin hack have been found, according to the KuCoin CEO
- Johnny Lyu explained in a tweet thread that more than $200 million in stolen assets are now out of the hackers’ control
- KuCoin will reopen for business soon
The perpetrators of last week’s KuCoin hack have been identified, according to KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu. Lyu took to Twitter over the weekend to give an update on the hack, which saw over $200 million in a variety of tokens stolen from the cryptocurrency exchange, stating that $204 million worth of assets was now back in their control and that law enforcement authorities were “officially involved”.
Police Informed of Hackers’ Identities
The KuCoin hack, which occurred last Friday into Saturday, resulted in almost $20 million in USDT, $4 million in ETH, and $33.8 million in ACOIN being swiped from the exchange alongside other cryptocurrencies. Exchanges acted quickly to block addresses associated with the hackers, with Tether also marking the USDT that was stolen, making it very difficult if not impossible for the hacker to exchange it.
KuCoin closed the exchange shortly after the hack, since when they have been working with authorities to try and track down those responsible and reclaim the funds, two objectives that, according to Lyu, they are managing to do.
KuCoin has not been operational ever since, but Lyu confirmed in the tweet thread that the platform is “coming back to full functionality”, which will be a relief to those with funds trapped on the platform as well as KuCoin themselves.
A quick update since my last livestream on Sep 30.
After a thorough investigation, we have found the suspects of the 9.26 #KuCoin Security Incident with substantial proof at hand. Law enforcement officials and police are officially involved to take action.
— lyu_johnny (@lyu_johnny) October 3, 2020
More Than $200 Million KuCoin Hack Funds Secured
As well as confirming that the exchange was almost open for business again, Lyu stated that his team had “found the suspects… with substantial proof at hand”, information which was being handed over to “Law enforcement officials and police” who are now “officially involved to take action.” Unless Lyu is bluffing, this is very bad news for the perpetrators of the KuCoin hack, who must already be feeling that the net is closing in, just nine days after the hack.
Lyu went on to state that an impressive $204 million in assets is “now out of the control of the suspicious addresses”, which illustrates the speed at which the entire community has worked to fence off the proceeds of the hack.
