The UK’s High Court has ordered the cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, to identify hackers who stole $2.6 million from Fetch.ai, and close their account. According to Reuters which reported the news, the sum of money that has been stolen is a relatively small amount compared to the $600 million recently stolen from the Poly Network, but that it’s one of the first public cases involving Binance and will be a test for the English courts and their ability to fight fraud on crypto platforms.
In a statement, a Binance spokesperson confirmed that the firm was helping Fetch.ai to recover its assets. They went on to say:
“Binance routinely freezes accounts that are identified as having suspicious activity occurring in line with our security policies and commitment to ensuring that users are protected while using our platform.”
According to Reuters, Binance had already notified Fetch.ai that it had seen unusual activity on their account and that it had managed to freeze some of the money so that it couldn’t be stolen, however, the hacker did manage to sell some of the assets but at a third of the price.
This case and the Poly Network hack show that it’s becoming more and more difficult for criminals to break into accounts, steal money, and keep it. One of the interesting moves in the Poly Network breach was that various exchanges blacklisted associated wallets to make it more difficult for the hacker to make off with his loot. In the case of the Poly Network hack, the hacker turned white hat and gave the money back – claiming that was their plan all along – and is set to receive $500,000 from Poly Network for exposing the breach.