Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has shared a report that the exchange intervened in the theft of crypto assets worth millions of dollars. Through a rapid response operation, the Binance Global Head stated that they were able to prevent the bad actors from taking over 90% of the stolen loot.
Binance seizes $11.8 million in assets belonging to kidnapped customers
In a Friday message On
Executives of a client were lured on a ‘business trip’ to Montenegro, where they were kidnapped and forced to empty their wallets. Total loss ~$12.5 million.
We investigated on-chain activity and contacted our partners earlier today to request a wallet freeze as all…
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) November 10, 2023
In total, Binance’s CEO stated that the bad actors were able to obtain approximately $12.5 million dollars worth of digital assets from their victims, all of which were converted into USDT and moved to a TRON wallet.
However, Binance was able to quickly intervene in the matter and inform their partners of the situation, who were then able to freeze the wallet. By doing so, Binance prevented the kidnapper from accessing $11.8 million of the $12.5 million loot.
The incident reported by CZ is not a new occurrence in the crypto world as bad actors sometimes resort to such brazen methods to steal crypto assets from investors.
In 2020, Le Duc Nguyen, a Vietnamese investor, was kidnapped and robbed of approximately VND35 billion ($1.5 million) in crypto assets by another Vietnamese man named Ho Ngoc Tai with the help of 15 gang members.
Tai claimed that he lost 1,000 Bitcoins worth 100 billion VND by investing in other tokens based on financial advice. The crypto investor felt cheated and proceeded to obtain a ‘refund’ through strong means.
Although Tai and his mercenaries were eventually apprehended by police and stood trial in May 2023, with 14 of the 16 perpetrators receiving sentences ranging from 9 to 19 prison terms.
CZ is facing questions about the decentralization of Crypto
Following Zhao’s story about the successful recovery of crypto assets, some crypto enthusiasts raised concerns about Binance’s ability to freeze users’ funds at will, a feature synonymous with the fiat banking system.
I really condemn this loss and am happy because most of the money is safe, but I have a question @cz_binance
At fiat banks, everyone says that those guys can freeze money at any time, for no reason
How is crypto better if someone can still freeze our personal wallets?Simple…
— Crypto Eagles (@CryptoProject6) November 10, 2023
However, Binance’s boss stated that crypto users have the choice to avoid such events as assets can only be frozen on centralized exchanges (CEX). Using other forms of storage, such as non-custodial wallets, will inevitably leave users’ assets inaccessible to third parties.
Total crypto market valued at $1.382 trillion on the daily chart | Source: TOTAL chart on Tradingview.com
Featured image of Shuttershock, chart from Tradingview