Coins.ph hacked, $6 million lost?

[Rikafip]

According to The Block, Phillippines based exchange Coin.ph (which I think is very popular among our Filipino members) got exploited on Tuesday and hacker allegedly managed to get away with 12 million XRP. After getting XRP, hacker sent it to OKX and few other crypto exchanges.

Does anyone from Phllipines local has more info about this?

The Philippines-based crypto exchange Coins.ph appears to have experienced an exploit on Tuesday that resulted in the loss of more than 12 million XRP tokens ($6 million).

Within about 30 minutes, a supposed hacker exchanged 999,999.999 XRP lots 13 times, in addition to another lot of 200,000 XRP, according to the blockchain explorer XRP scan.

After gaining nearly 12.2 million XRP tokens, the hacker then sent the coins through the crypto exchange OKX, the European crypto-to-fiat exchange WhiteBIT, the cross-blockchain exchange OrbitBridge, the crypto exchange SimpleSwap, two non-custodial exchange ChangeNOW and Fixed Float, as well as other destinations.

[1714322401]

1714322401

[OmegaStarScream]

I couldn't find anything on Twitter, whether from Coins.ph or someone else (other than the Block) but looking at their status page[1] it looks like the withdrawals are not functional (degraded performance) so I would imagine they're aware of the issue.

It also looks like they had deposit and withdrawal issues on both the 17th and 18th of the month. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with this.

[1] https://status.coins.ph/

[bittraffic]

It did not say anything about OKX or WhiteBIT acknowledging whether they tracked the user or allowed the hacker to withdraw from them.  The hacker isn't as smart as a real hacker for he only took XRP of all coins to steal. 

He must be a believer of XRP tech which influencers lied about its Roblox integration. So much hype about XRP and he thought, it was the future. $6M is big though.

[BitMaxz]

I tried to check all the community Coins.ph group and their official Facebook page no one mentioned that Coins.ph was hacked. I just found some users who had their XRP gone or hacked but it's old posts around the year 2019.

So it might be true but I think this is FUD due to the bullish price increase recently about XRP I believe they are trying to manipulate and give a signal that this would drop sooner I'm not sure but this is just my guess.

[AbuBhakar]

According to The Block, Phillippines based exchange Coin.ph (which I think is very popular among our Filipino members) got exploited on Tuesday and hacker allegedly managed to get away with 12 million XRP. After getting XRP, hacker sent it to OKX and few other crypto exchanges.

Does anyone from Phllipines local has more info about this?

There’s no news about this from our local social media and even popular news outlet in PH. Coins.ph social media account doesn’t express any announcement while their activity today is just a normal day including some sponsorship.

I’m not sure if the news is delay in our local but there’s no such news like this base on my social media and friends that using it.

[Rikafip]

I couldn't find anything on Twitter, whether from Coins.ph or someone else (other than the Block) but looking at their status page[1] it looks like the withdrawals are not functional (degraded performance) so I would imagine they're aware of the issue.

Yeah, I coulnd't find anything either so that's why I asked if anyone from our Filipino members have any more info about thiis and it looks like they don't have more info either.

So it might be true but I think this is FUD due to the bullish price increase recently about XRP I believe they are trying to manipulate and give a signal that this would drop sooner I'm not sure but this is just my guess.

I don't see how hack of $6 million XRP can affect its price in any serious way considering the trading volume XRP has. Who knows, maybe its just another bullshit news from crypto media like the recent Cointelegraph's news about ETF.

[jrrsparkles]

I couldn't find anything on Twitter, whether from Coins.ph or someone else (other than the Block) but looking at their status page[1] it looks like the withdrawals are not functional (degraded performance) so I would imagine they're aware of the issue.

Yeah, I coulnd't find anything either so that's why I asked if anyone from our Filipino members have any more info about thiis and it looks like they don't have more info either.

I looked at the article posted by block and it seems more like an investigation and yet to be confirmed by the exchange coins.ph and they said they didn't respond yet but on the explorer, the funds were withdrawn from the exchange so if you see the withdrawal on hold for XRP or for every crypto then there is something is going on so better watch out for now and who knows this can actually be true.

[bhadz]

According to The Block, Phillippines based exchange Coin.ph (which I think is very popular among our Filipino members) got exploited on Tuesday and hacker allegedly managed to get away with 12 million XRP. After getting XRP, hacker sent it to OKX and few other crypto exchanges.

Does anyone from Phllipines local has more info about this?

Most info from the local crypto media channels was also based on The Block's release. Coins.ph hasn't given any statement as of now so, this verifies nothing from their end. But with the maintenance they've made for a couple of days, this was likely the reason behind that.

It also looks like they had deposit and withdrawal issues on both the 17th and 18th of the month. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with this.

Yeah, that's likely the reason behind that maintenance, disabling deposit and withdrawal for so long but they haven't verified it. But one thing for sure is that they've made this maintenance and it was long based on the history that I've used them. Many users have been pissed off by that because they never spoke of any reasons why it took so long.

[FatFork]

Yeah, Coins.ph hasn't confirmed the hacking allegations yet, but they also haven't disputed them, which, in my opinion, should have been their first response if the news isn't true.


https://x.com/coinsph/status/1715634520739979346?s=20


https://x.com/coinsph/status/1715541030127432169?s=20

Besides, the article posted by TheBlock has been updated with a comment from the WhiteBit exchange confirming that they received a request from Coins.ph to freeze the funds.

[Baofeng]

Yeah, I read the news and we have been discussing it as well in our local boards, before we have a local represented of coins.ph, however, it seems that they are no longer responding, Coins.ph Official Thread.

Although it is considered to be the trail blazing platforms from the Philippines, in the last couple of years there have been a lot of local competition as well and their services have been deteriorating.

Anyhow, I don't store big amounts in the platform, it's centralized and we all know that it's not a good practice.

Will wait though from their official channels if this news is true or not, regardless (they usually takes time to respond), it's a big blow to coins.ph credibility again.

[stadus]

It's surprising that no reliable news outlets have reported on this incident yet, despite it happening yesterday. The amount lost is quite substantial, and one would expect it to be covered by popular TV stations like ABS-CBN, TV5, and GMA. However, there's been no news from these sources. I even tried searching on YouTube and couldn't find any reports from those channels. It's very likely that this is just FUD, a tactic to spread panic now that the market is in bullish mode.

[sokani]

When I saw this post yesterday and the comments that followed, I thought it was a fake news created to cause FUD, but the screenshot shared by FatFork and Coin.ph's silence is beginning to make me to have a rethink. I remembered when a Nigerian exchange, Patricia was hacked, it took them some time to come out and made a public statement, so from coin.ph's body language, it's very likely the news about the hack is true.

BTW, other media outlets are beginning to report about the incident but I don't know how reputable they are.

https://bitpinas.com/business/coins-ph-hacked-12-million-xrp-the-block-report/

[FatFork]

It's surprising that no reliable news outlets have reported on this incident yet, despite it happening yesterday. The amount lost is quite substantial, and one would expect it to be covered by popular TV stations like ABS-CBN, TV5, and GMA. However, there's been no news from these sources. I even tried searching on YouTube and couldn't find any reports from those channels. It's very likely that this is just FUD, a tactic to spread panic now that the market is in bullish mode.

First of all, $6M is not such a big amount, it's actually just a drop in the ocean when considering the entire crypto market. Second, Coins.ph is a local exchange, primarily popular in the Philippines and relatively unknown in the rest of the world. According to CoinMarketCap, it is ranked on 470th place with a daily volume of just over $650,000 (approximately 22 BTC).

Moreover, if these allegations are merely FUD, why haven't they denied them yet? Also, what about the "Your funds are SAFU!" statements on Twitter?

[NeuroticFish]

Yeah, Coins.ph hasn't confirmed the hacking allegations yet, but they also haven't disputed them, which, in my opinion, should have been their first response if the news isn't true.

Indeed, quite a peculiar post. It wants to be somewhat reassuring for its users/customers, but by not denying the hack.. everybody can understand whatever they want, even the worse case scenario.
Since I do have the seeds of negativity in my thinking, I will for now assume they did get hacked and didn't want neither to openly admit it (to avoid panic, especially as you said, it's not that a big amount), nor to deny it so they don't get caught lying.

[rat03gopoh]

They implicitly want to say that they can handle their loss. But yeah, we can't blame coins.ph completely as they also haven't tried to refute these exploitation allegations so far. There was no big fuss, everything was conducive except for the only withdrawal problem where their customers didn't know what the real reason was.

[stadus]

It's surprising that no reliable news outlets have reported on this incident yet, despite it happening yesterday. The amount lost is quite substantial, and one would expect it to be covered by popular TV stations like ABS-CBN, TV5, and GMA. However, there's been no news from these sources. I even tried searching on YouTube and couldn't find any reports from those channels. It's very likely that this is just FUD, a tactic to spread panic now that the market is in bullish mode.

First of all, $6M is not such a big amount, it's actually just a drop in the ocean when considering the entire crypto market. Second, Coins.ph is a local exchange, primarily popular in the Philippines and relatively unknown in the rest of the world. According to CoinMarketCap, it is ranked on 470th place with a daily volume of just over $650,000 (approximately 22 BTC).

Moreover, if these allegations are merely FUD, why haven't they denied them yet? Also, what about the "Your funds are SAFU!" statements on Twitter?

I was referring to the news from the local TV stations, and that's why I specifically mentioned the station names. These three stations are among the biggest in the Philippines, and the absence of any reports about this incident is quite surprising, especially considering that coins.ph is the first and largest local exchange in the Philippines.

[Rikafip]

Yeah, Coins.ph hasn't confirmed the hacking allegations yet, but they also haven't disputed them, which, in my opinion, should have been their first response if the news isn't true.

That's a weird response to a direct question. If it was lie, they should have cleared the situation and instead they went with "your funds are safu" narative which only make this whole situation even more suspicious. Maybe it was an inside job so Coins.ph is trying to kinda hide it not to ruin their reputation.

It's surprising that no reliable news outlets have reported on this incident yet, despite it happening yesterday.

This (alleged) incident didn't happen yesterday, it happened 4 days ago, on Tuesday. Its just that The Block released the news yesterday.

[alani123]

Yikes, this truly sucks. The Philippines is a developing nation rifle with corruption and rampant poverty and if this exchange continues to have some major issues after this or potentially even going insolvent it could affect the lives of people there greatly. Hopefully the exchange doesn't go down before it can fully compensate people that had money deposited.

[Baofeng]

Yeah, Coins.ph hasn't confirmed the hacking allegations yet, but they also haven't disputed them, which, in my opinion, should have been their first response if the news isn't true.

That's a weird response to a direct question. If it was lie, they should have cleared the situation and instead they went with "your funds are safu" narative which only make this whole situation even more suspicious. Maybe it was an inside job so Coins.ph is trying to kinda hide it not to ruin their reputation.

It's surprising that no reliable news outlets have reported on this incident yet, despite it happening yesterday.

This (alleged) incident didn't happen yesterday, it happened 4 days ago, on Tuesday. Its just that The Block released the news yesterday.

I'm not going to touch based on the issue if it is a inside job or not.

But I'm trying to piece everything together, maybe the hack had happened more than 4 days ago. I got a message from them on October 14, at 9:53 A.M. Philippine Local Time about a system upgrade.



And the news was released around the time of the system maintenance.

Still no official notification about this supposedly hack.

[robelneo]

It's surprising that no reliable news outlets have reported on this incident yet, despite it happening yesterday. The amount lost is quite substantial, and one would expect it to be covered by popular TV stations like ABS-CBN, TV5, and GMA. However, there's been no news from these sources. I even tried searching on YouTube and couldn't find any reports from those channels. It's very likely that this is just FUD, a tactic to spread panic now that the market is in bullish mode.

I only became aware of the news when I read it on Bitpinas the leading Philippine article site that is dedicated to anything Cryptocurrency in the Philippines, on mainstream media, it's not even mentioned but they mention it if it's related to other payment processors they always broadcast it.
The amount is huge but based on their statement it is manageable, but a loss is still a loss they have not been addressing the issues, and the news is all coming from other exchanges or sources and not from Coins.ph.

I understand Coins.ph claims to have millions of active users and the worst that could happen is for them to panic which will cause massive withdrawals, the PR management of Coins.ph is not giving the real picture of what really happened and this led to speculation, but so far all the features are available I just withdrew funds from my dashboard and checking all the coins listed and all are functional, withdrawal, deposits and trading are all good.