ZachXBT Calls Out Bitbns For Tagging $7.5M Hack As ‘System Maintenance’
ZachXBT, an on-chain detective, asserted that Bitbns, an Indian-based cryptocurrency exchange suffered a hack worth $7.5 million in February last year. However, ZachXBT claims that Bitbns disguised the incident as “system maintenance.”
“We should expose @bitbns, the crypto exchange, for concealing a $7.5m hack from their users on February 1st, 2022, and subsequently claiming it was just “system maintenance,” ZachXBT tweeted.
The Attacker Transferred 3 ETH Recently
Meanwhile, crypto news platforms reached out to Gaurav Dahake, the CEO of Bitbns, in relation to the allegations. Dahake stated they had contacted the on-chain investigator and would provide additional clarification during an upcoming “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session.
During Bitbns’ “system maintenance” shutdown in February 2022, an anonymous individual made significant withdrawals from the platform’s hot wallets. Notably, a substantial portion of these withdrawals occurred between the wallets “0x4960” and “0x24f3.”
A tweet from a Twitter user’s customer support inquiry to the exchange confirms that 0x4960 was indeed a Bitbns hot wallet. Hence, wallet 0x24f3 transferred its funds to wallet 0x4895 and subsequently used Tornado Cash to withdraw them.
Over the past year, withdrawals of 100 Ethereum (ETH) have been made from 0x4895 in batches, with the most recent transaction of 3 ETH taking place on February 28th, 2023. Furthermore, it is worthy to say that BNS upgraded its contract to V3 approximately one week after the supposed “system maintenance.”
This move raised questions within the community regarding the motive behind the upgrade.
Bitbns CEO Confirms Attack
In a recent Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, Dahake confirmed that an unknown individual attacked the exchange’s wallet. However, he claimed this incident occurred simultaneously with the V3 upgrade and system maintenance.
In addition, he stated that the company intended to release the reports of the hack once they concluded the investigation. The exchange’s CEO also noted that users were still able to withdraw their funds even after the incident.
Furthermore, the platform was still accepting withdrawals despite the hack. Dahake, therefore, told users to remain calm as the effect of the attack was minimal and did not affect its operations.
However, some users have shared screenshots of Bitbns’ INR withdrawal window on Twitter. The exchange’s notice indicates that withdrawals will take “more than 30-60 banking days” to process.
Meanwhile, the on-chain investigator also stated that between February 19th and 21st, an attack on Algorand resulted in the theft of over $9.2 million, comprising 19.5M ALGO, 3.5m USDC, and other assets.
Tokenhell produces content exposure for over 5,000 crypto companies and you can be one of them too! Contact at info@tokenhell.com if you have any questions. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Some of the posts on this website are guest posts or paid posts that are not written by Tokenhell authors (namely Crypto Cable , Sponsored Articles and Press Release content) and the views expressed in these types of posts do not reflect the views of this website. Tokenhell is not responsible for the content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products or any other content or banners (ad space) posted on the site. Read full terms and conditions / disclaimer.
