Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has confirmed the hacking of his X (Twitter) account over the weekend was caused by a “SIM-swap attack,” a technique used by hackers to gain control of a victim’s mobile phone number. Meanwhile, the extent of FTX’s financial woes was revealed in a shareholder presentation on Sept. 11 and Binance regional markets head Richard Teng said in an interview that, despite regulatory scrutiny, the company has no parallels to FTX.
Vitalik Buterin says SIM swap led to his X account being taken over
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has confirmed that the recent hack of his X (Twitter) account was the result of a SIM-swap attack.
A SIM-swap or simjacking attack is a technique used by hackers to gain control of a victim’s mobile phone number. With control of the number, scammers can use two-factor authentication (2FA) to access social media, bank, and crypto accounts.
On Sept. 9, Buterin’s X account was taken over by scammers who posted a fake NFT giveaway prompting users to click a malicious link which resulted in victims collectively losing over $691,000.
Speaking on the decentralized social media network Farcaster on Sept. 12, Buterin said that he has finally recovered his T-Mobile account after the hacker managed to gain control of it via a SIM swap attack.
“Yes, it was a SIM swap, meaning that someone socially-engineered T-mobile itself to take over my phone number.”
FTX shareholder presentation reveals exchange’s current state
The extent of FTX’s financial difficulties was laid out in a shareholder presentation that was released on Sept. 11.
According to the presentation, over 2,300 non-customer claims have been filed against FTX, including by Genesis, Celsius and Voyager. Those claims are worth a staggering $65 billion, but a large chunk are “assumed to be invalid/redundant.”
FTX has over $7 billion in assets made up of crypto, cash, brokerage investments, real estate and venture portfolio. Of note, the company owns 38 properties in the Bahamas worth a combined $222 million.
It was reported that FTX may claw back $86.6 million in political and charitable donations and $190.3 million through potential actions against vendors.
Lawyers of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have requested a pre-trial release due to a lack of adequate internet in federal prison. Bankman-Fried’s bail was revoked on Aug. 11 after he was found trying to contact and intimidate former FTX employees in the ongoing lawsuit against him.
Binance’s Richard Teng denies FTX comparisons: “We welcome the scrutiny”
Binance regional markets head Richard Teng insists that the global cryptocurrency exchange is financially secure and in no way similar to bankrupt peer FTX despite recent regulatory scrutiny and regional challenges. Speaking exclusively to Magazine editor Andrew Fenton in Singapore ahead of the 2023 Token2049 conference, Teng addressed a variety of different challenges being faced by Binance’s regional arms and played down reports that he is being groomed to take the reigns from founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao in the future.
Teng said that while Binance has faced different issues over the past couple of years, it has managed to tackle them on a case-by-case basis while remaining financially strong and able to process customer withdrawals.
Commenting on a recent social media post from CZ that highlighted “negative news/rumors, bank runs, lawsuits, closing of fiat channels, product wind downs, employee turnover,” Teng said that comparisons to the failure of FTX were unjustified:
“There were different rumors and FUD after FTX. People tried to associate us, which is totally untrue. Our assets are backed one-to-one.”
He also addressed recent Cointelegraph exclusives that revealed high-level executives had departed Binance, as well as another report on the company’s ties with Russian banks. Teng said that the exchange’s stellar growth in the space of six years continues to leave it in the spotlight.
“All this scrutiny will come from being the largest — scrutiny from regulators, scrutiny from the media — and we welcome the scrutiny.”
Teng said that Binance has not yet made a decision regarding its franchise that serves the Russian market while maintaining that the company continues to adhere to international norms and standards in regard to sanctioned entities and individuals:
“On our plans for Russia, we have stated very clearly in the last couple of weeks that all options are on the table. We continue to explore what we need to do for that particular franchise going forward.”
Meanwhile, maturing regulatory frameworks in various jurisdictions are also being welcomed by the global exchange. Teng said that the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation could benefit exchanges universally by creating standardized rules for the industry:
“This disparate treatment, it makes life very difficult for global platforms like for ourselves. In terms of local deployment, we need to understand how the rules and regulations are very different. So, what we hope for is harmonized standards.”
Teng said that MiCA was a “step in the right direction” in providing the 27 EU member states with a consistent set of standards, which in turn could lead to a wider convergence of global regulatory guidelines for the industry.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
