Crypto exchange offers a $250,000 bounty for hacker tip-offs

Zhao Changpeng Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg

Zhao Changpeng Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg

Published Mar 13, 2018

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INTERNATIONAL - One of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges is going on the offensive to deter hacking attempts that have plagued the industry.

Binance, founded by Zhao Changpeng, is offering the equivalent of $250,000 (paid in cryptocurrency) for information that leads to the arrest of hackers who targeted the venue last week, it said in a statement on Sunday. The exchange has set aside $10 million for future bounties and is encouraging other platforms to do the same, it said.

Binance disclosed last week that it had been the target of a “large-scale phishing and stealing attempt.” While the exchange said “all funds are safe,” Binance noted that it was unable to reverse some trades from accounts targeted by the hackers.

Nvidia Corp. GeForce GTX 1060 graphic processing units (GPU) sit stacked in mining rigs inside the cryptocurrency mining farm and school at the Ministry of Youth and Sports facility in Caracas, Venezuela, on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said intended purchases of the country's cryptocurrency, known as the Petro, surpassed $1 billion in two days of sales. Photographer: Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg

As prices of digital assets have soared, the platforms that trade them have become increasingly juicy targets for cyber thieves. Hackers stole tokens worth about $700 million from venues in Japan and Italy since the start of this year. The robberies have added pressure on both exchanges and regulators to do more to protect investors.

- BLOOMBERG

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