Crex24 cryptocurrency exchange is caught in the midst of a controversial hack that has pitted it against its users. The Estonian exchange was hacked recently, with the criminals making off with several tokens, the main one being HTMLcoin. Several users are now accusing the exchange of hiding the severity of the hack and downplaying the stolen amount.
Users noticed that something was amiss after spotting irregular movements of some cryptos from the exchange’s wallets. According to a report by Brazilian crypto outlet Livecoin, one user in particular noticed a withdrawal of 1.3 billion HTMLcoin tokens, worth $73,000 in mid-February. Crex24 then went on to freeze 61 crypto trading pairs and halted withdrawals and deposits for some cryptos as well, confirming that all was not well.
The exchange later came out to confirm that it had indeed been hacked and the hackers had stolen HTMLcoin tokens. It claimed it was working with the token’s development team to compensate the affected users. However, it only acknowledged losing 200 million tokens, despite blockchain explorers showing that 1.3 billion tokens had been transferred to a wallet in HitBTC exchange.
Following the hack, the exchange has allegedly increased its KYC processes for the affected tokens, making it nearly impossible to withdraw them. This has affected several users, with many of them being Brazilian, a country where HTMLcoin has gained quite a following. One client who spoke to the outlet claims to have lost 150,000 real ($32,400).
The exchange reportedly proposed to the token’s development team a number of solutions to compensate the users. One of these was to increase the number of HTMLcoin trading pairs, a proposal that the team shot down. The team revealed that it’s already working with HitBTC to identify the parties behind the wallet that received the 1.3 billion tokens.
And in a new twist to the tale, the alleged hackers reached out to Livecoin to own up to their actions. Calling themselves Team Madcatz, the hackers claim that they hacked the exchange on 12th February and stole several tokens including Bitcoin Plus, CNTX, Malwarechain, Birake and more.
Team Madcatz stated, “They lied to everyone and denied it, talking about server maintenance, while that’s not true. You may be asking yourself oh seriously? How do you know? Because we got it. And we’ll provide screenshots and signed wallets for the community to see.”
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