Hacker returns $17 million worth of stolen Ethereum

March 6, 2018

2 minute read

Hacker returns $17 million worth of stolen Ethereum

A microscopic closeup concept of cast or mined metal that builds up to form a physical ethereum cryptocurrency symbol – 3D render

In July of last year, an Israeli cryptocurrency venture called Coindash was preparing for the Initial Currency Offer (ICO), but as soon as the sale began, a hacker intercepted the company’s website and stole about 43,000 worth of Ethereum. At the time, the stolen cryptocurrency equivalent to the US $ 7.4 million, but today it costs approximately US $ 35 million.

The incident took place when hackers breached the CoinDash’s website and replaced the official Ethereum address to a fraudulent Ethereum address. The users then sent ETH to the fraudulent Ethereum address rather than the CoinDash’s official address.

However, it seems the hacker seems to have regretted it and there is a change of heart. Almost a year after the robbery, he returned $ 17 million of stolen Ethereum. In September last year, about 10,000 Ethereum were returned to Coindash from the attacker’s address. Now, last Friday, he returned another 20 thousand Ethereum.

Currently, the hacker still own 13,000 in Ethers stolen of the initial amount, which indicates that they might return more money.

In their official blog post published on February 23rd, the company confirmed the return of the cryptocoins and claims that it has already informed the authorities including the Counter Cyber Terrorist Unit in Israel. In addition to continuing to track and monitor the hacker’s address in case of any suspicious activity.

“Similar to the hack itself, the hacker’s actions will not prevent us from the realizing our vision, CoinDash product launch will take place next week as originally intended,” said Alon Muroch, CoinDash CEO.

Here are 13 cryptocurrency breaches which took place from July 2017 to February 2018:

1: July 4th, 2017: Bithumb hacked and 1.2 billion South Korean Won stolen.
2: July 17th, 2017: CoinDash hacked and $7 million in Ethereum stolen.
3: July 24th, 2017: Veritaseum hacked and $8.4 million in Ethereum stolen.
4: July 20, 2017: Parity Technologies hacked and $32 Million in Ethereum stolen.
5: August 22nd, 2017, Enigma marketplace hacked and $500,000 in Ethereum stolen.
6: November 19th, Tether hacked and $30 million worth of tokens stolen.
7: December 7, 2017: NiceHash hacked and $70 million stolen.
9: December 21, 2017: EtherDelta hacked and $266,789 in Ethereum stolen.
10: January 26th, 2018: Coincheck hacked and $534 Million stolen.
11: January 29th, 2018: Experty ICO hacked and $150,000 in Ethereum stolen.
12: February 3rd, 2018: BeeToken’s ICO Phishing Scam; $1M worth of Ethereum Stolen.
13: February 12, 2018: BitGrail exchange hacked; $160 million in Nano stolen