1. Binance wasn't hacked. The accounts of some users did.
2. Yes, the hackers used the API key of the accounts to maintain access to some functions of their accounts.
3. Probably wasn't necessarily a bot, but the hackers used a software that did the exchanging of coins/tokens.
Is your words legit, do you have any proof?
I can't provide proof as of now as I'm only on my mobile phone, but you can easily Google it. Changpeng Zhao(Binance CEO) explained how the hack attempt happened on a Medium article if I remember correctly.
Absolutely correct, Binance made several posts on Medium already, including a
Hacker Bounty of $250,000 a few days later.
In addition, the Support reacted in an exemplary manner by informing as best as they could via Telegram and Twitter. The initial FUD couldn't be avoided since Binance itself didn't know what had happened and needed time to figure things out but the very professionally assured everyone that no funds were lost. They even reverted all the trades so noone lost any money (nor made any
).
They cleared things up pretty fast:
On Mar 7, UTC 14:58–14:59, within this 2 minute period, the VIA/BTC market experienced abnormal trading activity. Our automatic risk management system was triggered, and all withdrawals were halted immediately.
This was part of a large scale phishing and stealing attempt.
So far: All funds are safe and no funds have been stolen.
[...]within the aforementioned 2 minute period, the phishers used the API keys, placed a large number of market buys on the VIA/BTC market, pushing the price high, while 31 pre-deposited accounts were there selling VIA at the top. This was an attempt to move the BTC from the phished accounts to the 31 accounts. Withdrawal requests were then attempted from these accounts immediately afterwards.
The Binance risk management system deactivated withdrawals automatically, so all funds were safe. In addition, the VIA coins deposited by the alleged phishers were also frozen and are now lost to them.
