In a recent development within the Ripple ecosystem, a security breach occurred involving the personal XRP accounts of co-founder Chris Larsen, resulting in the illicit access and theft of approximately 213 million XRP, with an estimated value exceeding $110 million. Initial reports on the incident seemed to suggest a broader attack on Ripple, but CEO Brad Garlinghouse swiftly clarified that wallets managed by Ripple itself were not compromised during the breach.
The incident came to light when a crypto investigator known as ‘ZachXBT’ shared a post, claiming that Ripple had fallen victim to a hacking incident, with the perpetrator attempting to launder the stolen XRP through various cryptocurrency exchanges. Notably, the exchanges involved in the attempted fund laundering included MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, and HitBTC.
Chris Larsen promptly identified the unauthorized access to his personal accounts and took immediate defensive measures. He informed the affected exchanges of the breach and requested them to freeze the compromised accounts to prevent further unauthorized activities. Garlinghouse, reiterating Larsen’s clarification, emphasized that no wallets managed by Ripple were compromised, stating, “Given some irresponsible speculation and reporting, I want to reiterate that NO Ripple-managed wallets were compromised.”
Larsen further addressed the situation, highlighting it as an isolated incident. He assured the community that Ripple wallets remained secure throughout, emphasizing that a substantial portion of the affected funds had been successfully frozen. Larsen stated, “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.”
Despite these clarifications, the incident sparked controversy and widespread discussion within the community, leading to a temporary dip in XRP prices. The community raised questions about Ripple’s initial silence on the matter until the crypto investigator reported the incident. XRP, initially valued at around $0.5, experienced a decline to $0.4955 immediately following the news. Although the token managed to recover to the $0.5 level after Chris Larsen’s clarification, it still sustained a slight decrease in value, currently trading at $0.4976, marking a loss of 2.48% in a day and 3.42% in a week.
