Crypto exchange Binance temporarily disables withdrawals
The company is investigating reports of users with registered API keys having issues with their funds.
Users of popular Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Binance have voiced concerns on social media that their altcoins have been sold without consent, even though their account security wasn’t compromised.
“WTF is happening! Binance just sold all my alts at market rate and I have got just the Bitcoin now. Is it because of account getting hacked or binance bot issue?” one user questioned on social discussion website Reddit.
In a post on a Reddit discussion thread, a spokesperson for Binance revealed that the company was “investigating” the complaints and that “withdrawals are temporarily disabled at this time”.
We are investigating reports of some users having issues with their funds. Our team is aware and investigating the issue as we speak. As of this moment, the only confirmed victims have registered API keys (to use with trading bots or otherwise). There is no evidence of the Binance platform being compromised. Please remain patient and we will provide an update as quickly as possible. Withdrawals are temporarily disabled at this time.
Binance users are expressing a range of varied responses to the incident.
“My account was affected and I don’t use any API keys… and if I did I wouldn’t lie about it, not sure what that accomplishes,” Reddit user jwuer said in a recent post.
“I use the website and the Binance android app. I have 2FA enabled and I’ve never generated API keys. I was not affected,” Reddit user SkepticalFaceless said in a reply thread.
“I’ve never used api keys or bots, just a regular trader and all my coins have been sold for Via,” hedleyb said.
“I don’t think anything has been proven and if it is a hack, it most likely was an individual account security issue not a Binance hack. Phishing and compromising accounts would probably be a more accurate description of the most likely scenario rather than hack,” Reddit user vels13 added.
As can be seen below, Viacoin’s value shot up from $2.77 to $6.40 and back down to $2.77 in just four hours.
Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao took to Twitter to halt rumors that funds have been jeopardized. He said that some accounts may have been compromised by phishing attacks and that Binance was investigating.
All funds are safe. There were irregularities in trading activity, automatic alarms triggered. Some accounts may have been compromised by phishing from before. We are still investigating. All funds are safe.
— CZ (not giving crypto away) (@cz_binance) March 7, 2018
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