[2019-01-15]Binance’s Changpeng Zhao Pledges to Freeze Cryptopia Hack Funds

[ppblockchain]

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao – perhaps better known as CZ – has responded to calls from Twitter users to block funds identified as coming from the recent Cryptopia hack.

As we explored earlier today, eager Blockchain watchers have been tracking funds that appear to have been taken from the New Zealand-based crypto-asset exchange, Cryptopia. The tokens, comprised of around $3 million-worth of ethereum and $11 million in other ERC-20 assets, were removed from wallets linked to the exchange in the early hours of January 13th (around 01:30 UTC).


https://paperblockchain.com/binances-changpeng-zhao-pledges-to-freeze-cryptopia-hack-funds/

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[btyco]

That is a shed load of tokens, hopefully most of which are shitcoins which had no value. Good that binance will block them and has so far resisted any hack attacks

[squatter]

That is a shed load of tokens, hopefully most of which are shitcoins which had no value. Good that binance will block them and has so far resisted any hack attacks

Uh, they obviously had value. They referenced $11 million in ERC-20 tokens. This is small potatoes for any exchange hack, but I'm sure the people sitting on millions of dollars in losses aren't thinking about that.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao– perhaps better known as CZ – has responded to calls from Twitter users to block funds identified as coming from the recent Cryptopia hack.

He did the same when customer funds at Wex.nz were sent en masse to Binance a few months back. Does anyone know what happened with that?

There's a big difference between Binance temporarily freezing funds and hacking victims getting their money back.

[stompix]

Wow, so an exchange can freeze funds with no legal paperwork just based on "tracking" and some see this as a good move.
Opening the Pandora's box, stage 3 (as it happened twice already with binance)

Slowly but surely exchanges are turning into a far worse version of banks, we have kyc, we have freezing accounts based on regions, we have funds frozen based on hunch something is not right, and what is worse if you have a problem with them most of the time you can't do anything since they've chosen to operate in countries with very lax laws.

And yet people feed those exchanges with hundreds of dollars in fees, leave their coins there as it's the normal thing to do.

[squatter]

Wow, so an exchange can freeze funds with no legal paperwork just based on "tracking" and some see this as a good move.
Opening the Pandora's box, stage 3 (as it happened twice already with binance)

It should only be a temporary freeze. Any blockchain analysis by an exchange that suggests money laundering, etc. could warrant that under their stated terms. The same might apply if coins are sent to Binance directly from darknet markets.

Here's the thing: I recall during the Wex.nz fiasco that Binance said they needed victims to file police reports regarding the stolen funds. (In their home countries? In Wex's registered country, Singapore? In Malta, where Binance is registered? Who knows.)

Absent that, they had no legal right to indefinitely freeze the assets. I have a hunch they froze funds temporarily in the direct aftermath but didn't end up really doing anything, since I never heard any news after that. This was back in October, I believe.

Slowly but surely exchanges are turning into a far worse version of banks, we have kyc, we have freezing accounts based on regions, we have funds frozen based on hunch something is not right, and what is worse if you have a problem with them most of the time you can't do anything since they've chosen to operate in countries with very lax laws.

They're "wild west" banks -- much worse than regular banks. They're centralized, they confiscate/freeze funds..... and they are untrustworthy, opaque and secretive, hiding in jurisdictions where customers can't come after them.