Ripple Founder Hacked for $113 Million, XRP Drops 5%

The price of XRP dropped Wednesday morning Eastern Time following reports of a hack on Ripple, the fintech company that created the sixth largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

Ripple co-founder and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen said on Twitter (aka X) that there “was unauthorized access to a few of my personal XRP accounts,” but ultimately clarified that the attack was not against Ripple itself.

Pseudonymous blockchain sleuth ZachXBT tweeted Wednesday morning that hackers made away with about 213 million XRP, or $112.5 million worth, before laundering it through exchanges.

XRP is down nearly 5% in the past day, now trading hands for just over $0.50, according to data from CoinGecko.

Yesterday, there was unauthorized access to a few of my personal XRP accounts (not @Ripple) – we were quickly able to catch the problem and notify exchanges to freeze the affected addresses. Law enforcement is already involved. https://t.co/T3HtKSlzLg

— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) January 31, 2024

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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Source: https://decrypt.co/215021/ripple-founder-hacked-113-million-xrp-drops-5