Coinspeaker
Ripple Co-founder Chris Larsen Allegedly Lost $112M in XRP Wallet Theft
On Wednesday, January 31st, ZachXBT first came out with a report that the Ripple platform has faced a theft losing ~213 million XRP coins worth a staggering $112 million. this news created a major uproar in the XRP community putting instant selling pressure on the altcoin. However, Ripple‘s Executive Chairman and co-founder Chris Larsen later confirmed that his personal wallets had suffered a breach.
Thus, the XRP wallets belonging to Ripple continue to remain safe along with investors’ money.
The Ripple executive further stated that they have initiated swift action to address the issue. This included promptly identifying the problem and notifying relevant exchanges to freeze the affected addresses. Law enforcement agencies are actively involved in the investigation.
This is an isolated incident, and Ripple wallets are secure / were never compromised. We’ve confirmed nearly all the affected funds were converted out of XRP.
We’re working with law enforcement and have been advised that a significant portion of funds have been frozen, and are…
— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) January 31, 2024
Larsen emphasizes that this incident is isolated, and the security of Ripple wallets remains intact and was never compromised. Investigations have revealed that almost all the affected funds have been converted out of XRP.
While collaborating closely with law enforcement, Ripple is making significant efforts to resolve the situation. A substantial portion of the funds has already been frozen, and aggressive efforts are underway to pursue the remaining funds.
XRP Crypto Slips to 7th Spot
As said, the XRP cryptocurrency faced strong selling pressure soon after the news of the hack came out. At press time, XRP is trading 3.54% down at a price of $0.4926 with a market cap of $26.7 billion. This is the first time that the XRP price has dropped under $0.50 since October 19, 2023. As a result, XRP has now dropped down to the seventh spot by market cap, beneath Circle’s USDC.
Despite this, Santiment’s data reveals a noteworthy development: the day following the altcoin slide saw the highest number of $XRP transactions involving amounts of $1 million or more on the network, totaling 217 transactions. This surge is the most significant since prices experienced a substantial increase following a judge’s ruling on July 13th and 14th, asserting that Ripple did not violate securities laws.
Photo: Sanitment
Interestingly, despite the potential risk and market fluctuations, Santiment observes a lack of panic among significant investors, commonly referred to as whales. Data from yesterday indicates that wallets holding at least 10 million $XRP now collectively possess 67.2% of the available supply, a percentage not seen since December 31, 2022.
Ripple Co-founder Chris Larsen Allegedly Lost $112M in XRP Wallet Theft