Bitcoin Forum

On January 30, 2024, a shocking news broke out in the crypto world: Chris Larsen, the co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple, the company behind the XRP cryptocurrency, reported that his personal XRP accounts were hacked and $112 million worth of XRP were stolen by unknown attackers.

Larsen, who is one of the richest people in crypto, said that he was able to freeze the affected addresses and notify the exchanges and law enforcement. He also clarified that the hack did not affect Ripple or the XRP Ledger, the decentralized network that powers XRP transactions.

However, the hack caused a panic among XRP investors, who feared that the network was breached or that the hackers would dump the stolen XRP on the market. The price of XRP dropped by 5% on January 31, 2024, as the news spread.

The hack also added more pressure on Ripple, which is still facing a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which accuses the company of selling unregistered securities in the form of XRP. The case is expected to go to trial in February 2024.

Despite the legal challenges, Ripple is optimistic about reaching a positive resolution with the SEC and continuing its innovation and partnerships in the cross-border payments industry. Ripple’s president Brad Garlinghouse said that the company has a strong case and a loyal community of supporters.

Ripple is also working on filing a spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF), which would allow investors to buy and sell XRP on a regulated platform. The company is hiring executives to drive the ETF initiatives and meet the requirements of the SEC.

XRP is currently trading at around $0.53, with a market capitalization of $27.4 billion. Some analysts and experts have predicted that XRP could bounce back to $1 or even higher in the future, depending on the outcome of the lawsuit and the demand for the token.

The hack of Chris Larsen’s personal XRP accounts is one of the biggest and most shocking events in the crypto world. It shows the risks and challenges that crypto investors and companies face in this volatile and unregulated industry. It also shows the resilience and potential of XRP, which is still one of the most popular and widely used cryptocurrencies in the world.

Lol, another proof that XRP is not worth our money. When a co-founder can't keep his coins safe - it means something.

I think that XRP security is an important topic that deserves more attention and education. XRP is a digital asset that is used for fast and low-cost cross-border payments.
However, XRP security also depends on the users and how they store and manage their XRP. Users should always follow the best practices of crypto security, such as using strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, and keeping their private keys safe. Users should also be careful of phishing, scams, and malware that could compromise their XRP accounts.

The hack of Chris Larsen’s personal XRP accounts was a wake-up call for the XRP community. It showed that even the co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple, the company behind XRP, could fall victim to a cyberattack. It also showed that the hack did not affect the security or value of XRP as a cryptocurrency, but only the security of Larsen’s accounts.

It's called commercial smart ass. Nothing got stolen, he trying to make good commercial but it will bite back at him because he missing a important part a brain to use.



Agree on that. But they say 2024 will be their year but I call that BS.

When I read the news I thought exactly the same thing lol

I've never bought XRP and for me it's one of the worst altcoins out there, it's worth absolutely nothing, I find it impressive that it has the current market value... for me it should be worth 0.00 USD.

If a cofounder acc can be hackedd, what's the hope of us retail traders.?

Theres an investigation made by ZachXBT that there is something fishy about this hacked event on xrp. Well cant really say its a hack especially XRP is been so lomg and its quite impossible to have been by normies just like that its whooping big money and suddenly stolen is kinda weird. I belueve this is an inside assault or probably plan by whom I dont know its quite scary when you are investing on a centralized platform with huge premine.

It's not crypto if it can be frozen.

This statement is worse than saying that his personal accounts were hacked and $112 million worth of XRP was stolen. How was he able to freeze the affected addresses? If XRP were decentralized, all he would be able to do is notify the exchanges and law enforcement authorities.

Day after day, XRP proves that it is highly centralized and that its only use is for cheap and secure international transactions at the protocol level. It can be frozen just like in financial systems, but if you are hacked at the individual level, you lose your money, which makes it very bad.

Same thoughts here , Like what said that upon reading the news i come to have a second thought now about investing in Ripple because this is not a safe way to invest our money.

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/xrp/

But looks like this does not effect the performance of Ripple now because it stays strong in its position .

No that does not mean XRP ecosystem is weak. And it can happen with anyone, it does not that mean that the person with whom this happens is a fool.

Investors do not usually care about future damage, and since the damage currently does not exceed Chris Larsen and clients' funds are safe, XRP will not be affected.
If he is able to freeze his  hacked assets, he will be able to freeze any asset in the network, which is direct proof of its centrality. Some may not care about it, but when decentralization becomes valuable, XRP will not be at the forefront.

Hacking news is really very bad news in crypto sector because hacking / scamming news effect in current market condition.

What does this have to do with the coin itself? His personal wallets were hacked, not the Ripple network itself. Who's fault is it that he doesn't know how to pick normal passwords and/or seed? Only himself. Here's his post on X (Twitter). Notice what he says.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/02/01/kqlh8.png

https://twitter.com/chrislarsensf/status/1752702297971532258

usually if there is bad news like this, the price of the coin immediately plunges freely. what's more, the price of xrp immediately crashes and the price is really destroyed. but until now the price of xrp is still calm.
xrp price still strong

a coin that if it is worth zero the dev runs away aka scam.
even the founder of the problematic tera luna until now USTC and luna or LUNC still have their prices. what's more xrp whose owner is USA, there are also many consumers of coin users in America. if there is a problem, they will be thrown into prison and impoverished to compensate Americans who buy xrp.

I saw news yesterday about XRP being hacked. I bought some XRP coins and invested after hearing the predictions of many influencers. Many influencers predicted that XRP would stay high after the SEC charges settled. Some influencers predicted that XRP would go from $5 to $18 after the SEC charges settled. I bought some coins and invested. But now I understand that the team themselves can't provide any security for this coin so how can they make good predictions about this coin.

After reading your reply I checked the price and there is not much difference. Not sure what is happening but such news should have plunged the price to a great extent whereas it went down a little and now again trying to gain the same price before the hack. That means the community is still pumping money into it and that they believe it will regain its lost position. I am not a fan of XRP, but I have heard that it has a strong community and that is evident with its price.

While I might agree with you on this statement that this event is a big smack on the face of XRP or rather the people behind it as we are expecting that being someone who is very much schooled on cryptocurrency, the ins and outs of the whole thing and the bigger knowledge on security issues around cryptocurrency yet we should also understand that no one is really immune with hacking much more so if you are a big holder like Chris Larsen, the co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple. The danger of hacking including scamming is all upon us. For now, this is not affecting XRP that much and so I am hoping this can be a big lesson to all of us to never take security for granted.

It didn't not "shake" the crypto world, it's normal and we are used to it at this point. XRP can also be considered as centralized as it gets so people are aware that things are not that simple and it could be meddled with a lot, while it is ranked high it doesn't mean that people trust the security of it, people just trust the potential of income they could make from it as well.

This is why I believe that the best thing to do regarding this would be just allowing yourself to be considered a little different in this regard. XRP hacks are not going to shake crypto world ever, it could shake the XRP community and that is very well and not going to change much, but it doesn't matter that it ends up with something that changes anything in the crypto world.

Sometimes it seems that XRP is an exceptional cryptocurrency, such events should negatively affect its condition, but the price is actually relatively stable. Hacking is a dangerous business, we can consider xrp lucky, not everyone gets this chance. Such cases will most likely be repeated, since there have already been attempts, you need to be careful when investing in XRP.

The effect on Ripple's price was not that dramatic like about 5% in loss but XRP has been on it's lower side for quite a time now and were not increased much compared to other popular coins. Binance and some of the exchanges have flagged and froze the funds deposited on the exchange through the wallets that are in connection to the hack. They might proceed with returning the coin to Chris Larsen. This I suppose is a hack of a personal wallet who happens to be one of the largest holder and a co-founder of the Ripple project. It would add one more stone for the grave of Ripple which already have too many. I hope to see them out of top 10 coins by marketcap within this year.

Well that is true but it still sends out the wrong message

Investors fear that if a founder lost $112 million what could the others lose when they are holding much lower amount than that? It is definitely not looking good and i am sure a lot are considering pulling out their investments

We just need to see and check how everything will play out in the future

It makes me sad when someone has money stolen from their wallet. I feel sorry for whoever it is, but I have to admit that when I saw Chris Larsen's tweet, I laughed a little bit. Chris Larsen said in his tweet (https://twitter.com/chrislarsensf/status/1752702297971532258) that he contacted law enforcement and exchanges about the stolen money and that he contacted them to freeze the accounts.

Even if you are the co-founder of a centralized coin that cannot be found because the Genesis block is missing, you may have to ask for help from law enforcement. Life is really cruel... :)

Yeah, $112 Million is a large amount, I wonder how the holders and investors of the coin are still calm and didn't start dumping their holdings, maybe because they are at a loss at the moment, because when security breaches like these happen, especially with the team members, a normal investor would feel unsafe and would want to migrate to another asset instead. A breach that can compromise the accounts of the co-founder can easily hit the wallets of a retail investor with an average sum.

This isn't going to be good for the reputation of the coin and the case it's fighting against the SEC. They were questioned for selling unregistered securities and now they will be asked about the security of the assets and products their investors have access to. I would withdraw my investment from XRP if I had any.

These stories are all too popular.  I missed the story but if so, hoe much do you trust this team if theor leader doesn't even know how to properly store their own stash of crypto lol.  It's not that I don't feel bad for them but being in the busie.ss they know the risks and obviously skipped a couple security steps which cost him huge.

 Hahhaha damn that is savage. Talk about adding salt to the wound with this whole XRP charade in court I mean talk about a fiasco and then this! Lmao what a big OOOOFFFFFFF by the co-founder. I mean talk about spilling your marbles while you have the spot light on you ahhahahah. I really hope that they win agains the SEC for good it would be fantastic to see them victorious after all this. I have a small amount of XRP just in case and man wouldn't it be epic to see it hit like 10 bucks in 10 years or something?!

the first time i see his tweet i was kinda baffled tbh, this is not measly amount yet it seems that on his side he is lacking the discipline of doing all the security measure needed so that his coin won't get stolen by some random.
the lawsuit i guess is his last resort since it seems he can't really retrieve back the money, i might be wrong though but it really seemed so.
goes to show that this coin isn't worth investing even a dime these whole thing just seemed ridiculous.
imagine a founder of XRP losing their own XRP, personally i never invested in XRP and will have no plan to do so.

The term "freeze" implies that you can't trade it because it's monitored on the blockchain. For example, if you send it to an XRP wallet, it remains under surveillance, and the wallet you sent it to, is associated with the monitored wallet address. As a result, you can't exchange it for other cryptocurrencies. This is why the $112 million worth of XRP that was hacked is essentially rendered useless, as it can't be utilized. However, the XRP held by the hacker is still sendable, it's just frozen, preventing it from being traded for other cryptocurrencies.

After this news, now people will feel the fear of crypto-currency, they will withdraw as much money as they have in the market, because whenever such an incident happens, panic spreads among the people, then people mostly invest a little. For some time now I see that for the last two days the market has just stopped at the same place and is not giving the name of moving forward. The main reason for this is that in Since then people have withdrawn their money and people are waiting now the fear among people has been released because XRP is not a small coin it is a coin of a well fundamental.

Now again the market will be stable but it will take time because whenever same incident appear all the trader are feeling fear at least few days but when the story  will old then people will forget this and again dive into market same as before.

News of hacks and scams in the crypto industry is now a normal and regular occurrence, and this is affecting the trust of cryptocurrency in general to the world, I'm seriously wondering and hoping if there'll ever be a stop to these hacks, I guess not. The question raised should be a concern to every crypto holder, if a top class crypto holder with with millions of dollars worth, that is supposed to have a strong fireproof security can be hacked, then what is the hope of the ordinary holder? I've read that he freezed the account, good for him, we'll just wait and see how it works out for him, if he can eventually unfreeze the account and recover the stolen coins.

Thanks for sharing this image here i was like this is very strange to attack XRP network even at this critical time again.
This shows that everyone needs to be very mindful with their security, choosing a very strong and solid password is essential and i don't know why people don't show signs of seriousness with the way to store their personal data such as private key, seed-phrase. The news above doesn't have any effects on XRP rather his personal wallet address was compromised.

Now that We have seen this cases We must consider how vulnerable and weak the management and so as the projects , wondering how much this can fall more in the coming months ? I'm afraid how much is the potential dumping.
exactly the point here , there are many believer still but they are not aware of how weak this project is.

How is $112 million worth of XRP hack birth this episodes that you have shared including SEC part that you included. The last time I check, XRP didn't rest that much to this hack, didn't plummet to as high as 10% like other coins use to do when they are hack. Perhaps, because it was announced that some of the tokens that were transfer to exchange were quickly seize on Binance and Okex exchange, this isn't good for the XRP community, project underperformed whenever there is too much coin on circulation and XRP already had much billions.

I don't know how bad the state has been but this would have been better if they fork XRP. They should pass a vote of confidence in the Dao that's if they had one and make sure that the whole of that XRP is useless and then compensate the co-founder from the foundation just to make the community gain back trust and the exchanges don't have to worry about such coins.

Although, I'm having some questions. Why is Binance not making investigations on these XRP that came to their exchange. I thought they have KYC to identify thefts or they don't use them for fishing out these type of heist in crypto, clowns.

It seems like the market didn't react significantly to this, and even Ripple's coin didn't experience a substantial drop in price. The ongoing legal battles with the SEC have become somewhat routine, lasting for an extended period, and people seem accustomed to it, accepting it as a reality. However, observing the market's response indicates that the XRP community remains optimistic about the cryptocurrency's prospects.

It shocked by the paper with the amount that's involved but, almost there's no impact on it whenever I've seen this news.  Poor guy, one of the co founders of a big project but then got hacked. That's a lot of money but if he's got more for sure, he could be one of the billionaires that are into his/her own project. In that sense, he can simply recover that back but many also of these hack reports are like their exit plans.

This is not surprising news. Especially when XRP is utterly-centralized. Truly-decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are much more secure and reliable. But XRP fanboys don't care about this as long as they're able to cash in on the hype.

Despite the recent turmoil, I don't think this marks the end of XRP. The developer team would mostly likely introduce a series of bugfixes and patches to prevent something similar from happening again. While I'm not a fan of XRP, I wish all the best to Mr. Larsen. Hopefully, the authorities catch the hacker to help recover the co-founder's funds. If the hacker used centralized exchanges to sell the XRP, this would be a piece of cake. :D

I was shocked for this news, and I read it on cointelegraph. Chris Larsen's hacked XRP account was quite an alarming, wow, worth $112 million. For us in this btt forum, let it be a reminder of the security risks in the crypto world. Luckily there was quick action from Larsen. To freeze the affected addresses and notify exchanges and law enforcement is commendable. In this case is particularly sensitive considering Ripple's ongoing legal battle with the SEC, and the subsequent drop in XRP prices reflecting the reaction of the crypto market. When there is hacking in crypto, of course what we fear is not to have a long-term effect on the market, this is really not good for holder.

I am not defending this crappy coin, but let's at least get our facts straight. He didn't freeze anything. He notified centralized exchanges to freeze the accounts with stolen xrp. Centralized exchanges have always been able to freeze every account, and are legally obligated to prevent to let people wash stolen money. The text OP posted is misleading. Even though ripple is centralized, this is not the example of it, in fact it's quite the oppose. Hacker just wasn't fast enough to cash out.

And again, while i loath XRP, this could happen to anyone with any crypto. If anything this is just underlining that Ripple is very much similar to other cryptos out there. And the fact it can be stolen in the first place is one of those key issues that might prevent mass adoption. So i don't understand why people are bashing XRP for this specific thing.

Title looks misleading after reading the proofs provided by the fellow members and this hack doesn't connect to XRP at all since the hacked funds were from his personal wallet not even the XRP. But this could be used for the advertisement to promote the name negatively even to gain attention and if US court gives favorable response to the project then they can use this to fuel it's price further.

People are bashing XRP because its a centralized "cryptocurrency". After all, XRP is the "banker's coin". If it's decentralized as it claims to be, then it will survive for generations. But knowing that Ripple Inc. still holds a large portion of XRP tokens, tells me otherwise. Like you've said before, it was possible to "freeze" the stolen XRP through CEXs. By acting quickly, the hacker was unable to cash out the funds.

I sure hope Ripple Inc. doesn't control the validators, because that would give it the ability to "freeze" accounts on the XRP Ledger itself. At least we have a decentralized XRP alternative. Why bother investing in a "banker's coin", when we have Stellar (XLM) by our side? :D

This is kind of expected as this guy is one of the top echelons of Ripple and maybe people are thinking that if this hack could happen to a person who is probably more concerned with security than anybody else then it might also happen to them. This goes to show that no one is really immune with hacking, phishing and scams happening all over the crypto industry. Though this can be a big black eye for the industry, this is just one of the many colorful but sad stories that happened in the industry where we are in. We need to evolve the security solutions so that hackers are not one step ahead of us.

XRP hacking is not new things because previous time more & more times got hacked XRP maybe need high security systems not in XRP.

Thanks for sharing your perspective. While it's true that volatility is a common occurrence in the crypto world, it's essential not to underestimate the potential ripple effects of events like XRP hacks. While some may view XRP as centralized, others still see value in its potential for profit. However, it's crucial to acknowledge that such incidents can indeed shake confidence, not just within the XRP community but also in the broader crypto sphere. Understanding these complexities requires a nuanced approach, where diverse opinions contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the market dynamics. Let's keep the dialogue open and continue exploring the ever-changing landscape of cryptocurrencies together.

Your concerns about centralization in the XRP ecosystem are valid and reflect a broader discourse within the crypto community. Indeed, the concentration of XRP tokens within Ripple Inc. raises questions about decentralization and the potential for control over the network.
However, it's worth noting that the ability to freeze funds on centralized exchanges (CEXs) doesn't directly translate to control over the XRP Ledger itself. The XRP Ledger's consensus mechanism is designed to prevent unilateral actions such as freezing accounts without widespread agreement among validators.

Regarding alternatives like Stellar (XLM), it's true that projects like Stellar offer a decentralized alternative with similar features to XRP. Stellar was actually forked from the XRP Ledger in its early days, and both projects share similar goals of facilitating fast and low-cost cross-border transactions.

Ultimately, the choice between XRP and alternatives like Stellar comes down to individual preferences and assessments of each project's technology, adoption, and governance. While concerns about centralization are valid, it's important to weigh them against other factors and make informed investment decisions based on a comprehensive understanding of the crypto landscape.

Cryptocurrency security is still have some breach and all holders must be very observant and learn from other people's mistake before they too before a victim of something similar.
Crypto security still have a long way to go so because everyday, hackers and scammers are looking for a new way to make things easy for them to hack people's wallet and take away their funds. We need to be prepared and start safeguarding all our crypto investments so we don't become a victim too. We need to read books and do frequent research on so many ways hackers could use to steal our funds.

Absolutely, cryptocurrency security is indeed a critical concern in the ever-evolving landscape of digital assets. Your point about the continuous efforts of hackers and scammers to exploit vulnerabilities is spot on.

Have you considered implementing a multi-layered security approach for your crypto holdings? It's not just about staying informed about potential threats but also adopting proactive measures to safeguard your investments. Utilizing hardware wallets, enabling two-factor authentication, and staying updated with the latest security practices are all vital steps in mitigating risks.

Who's to say Ripple, Inc. controls a large portion of the network's validators? They have a large influence on the project, so anything's possible. Funny thing is that XRP is still one of the top cryptocurrencies in market cap. Stellar (XLM) is more decentralized, but it doesn't bring the attention of traders and investors alike. It's been a "forgotten project" that will eventually fade away into oblivion.

I've once read that Stellar was going to integrate the Lightning Network for even faster and cheaper payments. I'm not sure if developers already did it, but that would've made XLM a more attractive option than XRP. The latter is all about hype. No real use cases from what I've seen so far. Unless banks ditch SWIFT in favor of the XRP Ledger, I don't see the "cryptocurrency" going anywhere soon. The company already has issues with the US government, so there's that. Maybe it's bound to disappear soon? :D