Following an investigation into the hack of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s personal wallets, Hacken has discovered links to XRP’s authorized wallets.
Hacken Investigation Traces Chris Larsen’s Stolen XRP Back to Official Wallets
Blockchain security firm Hacken has disclosed connections between the recent $112.5 million hack of Ripple co-founder and chairman Chris Larsen’s personal wallets and XRP’s authorized wallet. The disclosure came through a detailed investigation following the incident, which Hacken posted on X.
🚨 @Ripple Case: Insights That Went Unnoticed
Driven by peculiar intricacies surrounding a recent XRP event, our team embarked on an in-depth inquiry
The key outcome of our investigation: two wallets, that took a central stage in the incident, are connected to XRP’s authorized… https://t.co/CQDU9ggkTF
— Hacken🇺🇦 (@hackenclub) February 7, 2024
The hack, which took place on Jan. 31, resulted in Larsen losing 213 million XRP, valued at $112.5 million. Following the hack, Binance CEO Richard Teng announced that his exchange had frozen $4.2 million worth of XRP stolen in the attack.
Hacken’s post on social media platform X revealed that two wallets, central to the hack, were linked to XRP’s authorized wallet. The investigation, driven by the peculiar intricacies of the event, initially focused on a wallet with an address beginning with “rJNLz3A1”, identified as the compromised XRP wallet.
Through an analysis of both incoming and outgoing transactions, Hacken’s research pointed to the transfer of a large portion of the stolen funds to various exchange addresses, including one from Kraken, allegedly used to funnel out the funds. The analysis of wallet transactions pre-dating the incident revealed longstanding ties with XRP, suggesting an intricate network of transactions with some leading back to XRP itself.
Hacken’s findings revealed a wallet address beginning with “rU1bPM4” that had significant transactions with Larsen in the past, as well as connections to the wallets used in the hack. This account, with longstanding ties to XRP and predating the incident, sent $64.6 million in XRP to Larsen and was involved in transactions with the Kraken deposit address allegedly used to funnel funds from the attack.
While Hacken has stopped short of concluding the attack was an inside job, the connections between the wallets involved and XRP’s authorized wallet have raised eyebrows.
