Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, has found himself the victim of a massive hack never before seen on the XRP network. No less than 213 million tokens, the equivalent of $113 million, were stolen from his personal wallets.
Ripple boss suffers record theft of 213 Million XRP
The year 2024 is off to a bad start for the Ripple community. This Wednesday, January 31, Chris Larsen revealed to have been the victim of a spectacular hack that led to the detour of more than 213 million XRP from his personal wallets (112.5 million USD at current market price).
Fortunately, the funds are traceable on the blockchain, a substantial part could be frozen when hackers attempted to launder them on leading exchange platforms such as Kraken.
According to Larsen, the theft was an isolated incident, and Ripple wallets have never been compromised in the past. Nevertheless, the affair caused a 4% drop in the XRP price.
A lack of security pointed out
According to Nik Bougalis, former engineering manager at Ripple, this attack reveals the inadequacy of current solutions for effectively securing private keys.
In his opinion, additional protection mechanisms, such as multiple signature, requiring several keys to validate a transaction or the use of specialized day-care services would have better protected the funds.
Even if the Ripple network as a whole emerged unscathed from this cyberattack, the shockwaves caused by this massive hack are likely to be felt for a long time to come. Beyond the financial losses, it’s hardly surprising that the confidence of the Ripple community has been shaken. It’s time for Ripple developers to fight back. This theft should serve as a wake-up call to strengthen wallet protection.
As a journalist at Coinpri, I’ve been captivated by the world of bitcoin and blockchain since 2020. The decentralized aspect of Bitcoin particularly piqued my interest. Since then, I’ve been working constantly to spread my knowledge, hoping one day to see a world where everyone fully enjoys their financial freedom.
