A major cybersecurity breach hit Taipei-based trading platform Kronos Research, resulting in a staggering loss of $26 million in crypto assets. Initial reports surfaced from crypto analyst ZachXBT, revealing the extensive outflow of funds and confirming the substantial impact of the breach.
Acknowledging the unauthorized access to some of its API keys, Kronos Research disclosed the breach, indicating a significant loss in Ether (ETH) due to the breach. The platform promptly halted all trading operations and launched a comprehensive investigation, marking its first trading suspension since 2018. Kronos Research aims to swiftly recover from the losses and resume trading activities.
Despite the breach, Kronos assured stakeholders that the losses do not significantly impact its equity and emphasized a commitment to cover all losses internally without affecting partners.
The reverberations of this breach extended to crypto exchange WOO X, temporarily pausing its operations as Kronos serves as its market maker for spot and perpetual futures markets. However, WOO X quickly resumed trading activities and withdrawals within an hour, addressing concerns over user funds’ safety and clarifying a DDoS attack on its website during the same period.
Criticism from the online crypto community ensued, questioning the relationship between Kronos and WOO X, drawing parallels to other industry pairs like FTX and Alameda Research.
As cybersecurity incidents continue to affect the crypto landscape, these breaches underscore the importance of robust security measures and raise concerns regarding interconnected relationships within the industry.