Here’s How Much Ripple (XRP) Was Stolen in the Poloniex Attack

TL;DR

• Poloniex Hack: Cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex was hacked on November 10, losing $125 million in various cryptocurrencies from its hot wallets, including 3.1 million XRP tokens.
• Widespread Token Impact: Over 175 different tokens were affected, with major losses including $11M in USDT, $10.4M in ETH, and $6M in ELON, indicating a highly sophisticated and extensive attack.
• Response and Containment: Owner Justin Sun confirmed the breach and offered a 5% bounty for fund recovery.

Poloniex, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, fell victim to a sophisticated hack on November 10. The attackers successfully targeted the platform’s hot wallets, making off with a staggering $125 million in various cryptocurrencies, a significant blow to the exchange and its users.

The hackers’ brazen heist included the theft of approximately 3.1 million XRP tokens, roughly $2.07 million. XRP Forensics confirmed the news, as it happened at the same time as the incident on other chains, including Ethereum, Tron, and Bitcoin.

A Poloniex hot wallet was emptied for 3.1 million XRP about 30 minutes ago. This happened at the same time as the incident on other chains, including ETH, BTC and Tron. We have flagged the accounts involved and are following the money.https://t.co/r9FsO8euLe

— XRP Forensics (XRPLF) (@xrpforensics) November 10, 2023

This makes XRP one of the tokens with the most significant outflows in the hack —others include GLM ($2.5M), OX ($3.1M), SHIB ($4.7M), USDC ($5M), and other important cryptocurrencies such as ETH.

The biggest token outflows ($), but not all were:

$11M USDT
$10.4M ETH
$6M ELON
$5M USDC
$4.7M SHIB
$3.1M OX
$2.5M GLM

This is currently the final page for Poloniex outflows pic.twitter.com/SCNVpBQKxw

— Nansen 🧭 (@nansen_ai) November 10, 2023

Losses Within ‘Manageable Limits’

As CryptoPotato reported, the hack compromised more than 175 different tokens, each with individual valuations exceeding $10,000. This broad scope indicates a well-planned attack that sought to maximize the impact on the exchange’s digital assets.

Poloniex’s owner, Justin Sun, confirmed the breach in a public statement, prompting users to remain calm and offering a 5% white hat bounty for the attacker in exchange for the return of the stolen funds.

Sun revealed that the hackers specifically targeted various wallets across multiple blockchains, demonstrating a high level of sophistication in their approach. Blockchain analytics company Nansen showed only 175 tokens left in Polonie’s wallet, amounting to just $10k.