Crypto Exchange Bilaxy Loses $21M in Hack

Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange Bilaxy was the victim of a hack that compromised a hot wallet on its platform and saw the transfer of 295 ERC-20 tokens, worth more than $21 million, to a single wallet on Sunday (Aug. 29).

The Bilaxy hack is the 20th DeFi attack this month, according to the Investing.com report.

HOGE, one of the tokens listed on Bilaxy, tweeted that all of its tokens on Bilaxy had been transferred by the hacker to that wallet, causing the price of HOGE to drop 35%. Bilaxy later moved all the tokens that weren’t stolen to a so-called cold wallet so they couldn’t be compromised and shut down the website for system maintenance.

Bilaxy has suspended withdrawals on its platform and users have been told not to transfer tokens into the exchange for now. It’s expected to be shut down for at least two weeks as it investigates the hack and rebuilds the system architecture, while a professional team is investigating and attempting to recover the stolen ERC-20 tokens.

Related: Poly Network Thanks ‘White Hat’ Hacker/Hackers With $500K Reward

Bilaxy is hardly alone when it comes to cryptocurrency-related hacks. Earlier this month, cryptocurrency platform Poly Network thanked the so-called “white hat” hacker or hackers who seemed to exploit a vulnerability in the company’s digital contracts and execute a $610 million hack by offering a $500,000 “bug bounty,” according to Reuters.

Also Read: White House Ransomware Task Force Tries To Stem The Tide Of Attacks

The White House announced a U.S. ransomware task force in July that promises payouts up to $10 million for information that identifies hackers who ask for cash or other bribes to return the information or assets they’ve stolen.

There are ransomware attacks every 11 seconds, according to Cybersecurity Ventures, and 4,000 daily ransomware attacks in the U.S. since 2016.

This task force became a priority for the Biden administration in the wake of the $70 million in crypto-ransom sought by Russian hacking group REvil before its abrupt disappearance.