Binance exchange says it will cover customer losses as it scrambles to freeze affected assets, with about $3bn located so far

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has been hit by a record $6.3bn (£4.7bn) hack described as the biggest heist in history, with experts identifying North Korea as the likely culprit.

Binance said it would cover all customer losses as it froze $3bn of the affected assets.

Analysts said the exchange had been subjected to an unprecedented attack with “never-seen-before” laundering patterns as the hackers made off with assets worth billions of dollars.

  • John@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    The network itself is sufficiently decentralized. Smart contract risk is a risk though. However, many of the “hacks” have actually just been centralized exchanges, shitty bridge exploits, or rugpulls. Large, well funded, well run teams which have bug bounties have seen relatively few issues.

    I am one of the people concerned about the growing centralization of Ethereum. L2s that are centralized. Stablecoins from tradfi companies. Cloud hosted nodes. Validation pools. VC money and increasing institutional presence. Etc.

    However, Ethereum is still far and away more decentralized than anything out there. I can send and receive money, in seconds, with no bank or government to stop me.

    You are absolutely right about the stablecoin risk, and I’ve been saying this for years, and many crypto folks have just ignored it. I was hoping to see stuff like RAI take off, but it just never did. It’s ok to have valid criticisms of Ethereum that don’t invalidate the entire ecosystem. The network will run forever, with or without stablecoins.

    • deHaga@feddit.ukEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      Yeah don’t get me wrong. I like the technology and the principle, but I’d rather have a tokenised assets based off something tangible and positive like soil health and carbon…

      • John@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        RWAs (real world assets) are a growing ‘sector’ of defi. There’s currently $30 billion AUM with RWAs.

        To be honest, crypto is hypercapitalized as fuck, but there’s niche sub groups like Regen Finance and Bread Chain, offering real world solutions for the working class and environmental concerns. This is where my interest in crypto lies.

        • deHaga@feddit.ukEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

          Thanks, will take a look. I remember reading about crypto DAOs ages ago and thought they sounded very interesting.

          • John@lemmy.mlEnglish
            1·
            2 days ago

            DOAs were/are a cool idea, but they all basically just turned into a way for rich people to get outsized influence on orgs/apps. It totally got gamed.

            I do think there’s value in DAOs somehow, but they way they’re setup now, it just kind of failed. I had some DAO tokens and it always felt so pointless voting. My vote was basically worthless. And, most orgs are too scared to turn on the fee switches for DAO token holders in fear of regulatory action.