Ripple Co-Founder's XRP Accounts Hacked: $112.5M At Risk

Ripple co-founder and executive chairman Chris Larsen made a shocking announcement that his personal XRP accounts had fallen victim to a hacking incident on Jan 31. Initially, speculation circulated that a potential compromise had affected the entire company, Ripple. Crypto analyst ZachXBT was the first to report the breach.

Yesterday, there was unauthorized access to a few of my personal XRP accounts (not @Ripple) – we were quickly able to catch the problem and notify exchanges to freeze the affected addresses. Law enforcement is already involved. https://t.co/T3HtKSlzLg
— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) January 31, 2024

Larsen promptly addressed the situation, emphasizing that he limited the unauthorized access to his personal XRP accounts, not the official Ripple accounts. He swiftly detected the problem and promptly sent immediate notifications to exchanges, urging them to freeze the affected addresses. Promptly, law enforcement actively tackled the breach.

While Larsen did not disclose the specific amounts affected, ZachXBT estimated that the breach resulted in the theft of 213 million XRP, equivalent to approximately $112.5 million based on the value of $0.51 per XRP at the time of the incident.

Law Enforcement Intervenes, Ripple Silent

According to reports, the perpetrators attempted to launder the stolen XRP through at least six cryptocurrency exchanges. However, a post from Larsen’s X account indicated that law enforcement had intervened, freezing accounts connected to the breach. The current status of the funds and whether they remain in the custody of the exchanges is unclear.

Ripple, the entity in question in this case, has also provided no comments to questions on the incident, with crypto enthusiasts still waiting for an official statement. Word that XRP had been hacked spread quickly, resulting in a momentary dip of $0.01 from the value of XRP. Nevertheless, the market recovered immediately, and after an hour from the first news, XRP’s value remained rather stable.

Source: CoinMarketCap

The news indicates that Ripple’s verified accounts were not hacked and are likely intact, with XRP-holder funds secure. Nevertheless, such an event offers the crypto community some vestibules. This can be referred to as one of the biggest hacks in 2024. The state-validated position deepens due to the active participation of police since their investigation needs most details from them alone.

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