Following successful negotiations with a hacker, Huobi Global has recovered $8 million in stolen Ether (ETH). The crypto exchange made contact with the hacker who had absconded with the funds in September, leading to a successful resolution.
Investor and HTX adviser, Justin Sun, announced the news on Twitter, stating that the hacker had made “the right choice” by accepting HTX’s offer.
“We have confirmed that the hacker has fully returned all funds, as promised, and we have also paid the hack a white hat bonus of 250 ETH,” tweeted Sun. He emphasized that maintaining the security of user assets remains their prime objective.
The hack, disclosed on September 25, saw one of HTX’s hot wallets compromised and drained of 5,000 ETH. Sun assured customers at the time that the stolen amount was minor compared to HTX’s $3 billion in assets.
Sun also revealed that HTX had offered a “white-hat reward” of 5% of the stolen ETH to encourage the hacker to return the funds. He warned that should the offer not be accepted within a week, law enforcement would be contacted.
Interestingly, crypto firms have occasionally had to negotiate with hackers to recover stolen funds, often managing to reach agreements that result in the bulk of the funds being restored and a bounty paid to the hacker.
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