Crypto Exchange BitBNS exposed for hiding a $7.5M hack from users

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India-based crypto exchange BitBNS has been exposed by @ZachXBT on Twitter for hiding a $7.5M hack from its users, covering it up as 'system maintenance':

 

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Bitbns Finally Admits To Covering Up $7.5 Million Hack​

Indian cryptocurrency exchange Bitbns has finally admitted that it was hacked in February 2022, which led to $7.5 million worth of funds being compromised.

The confession comes only hours after crypto sleuth ZachXBT called out the exchange, tweeting that it was covering up the hack under the guise of system maintenance.

Funds Were Compromised: Bitbns Founder ​

Gaurav Dahake, the founder of the Indian crypto exchange Bitbns, admitted on 1st March 2023 that the exchange was hacked in February 2022. Speaking at an AMA session, Dahake stated that the funds were indeed compromised but stated that it was not an abnormal situation. He noted that the exchange was taken offline so that the team could analyze the anomalies on the platform.

The admission came after crypto researcher ZachXBT called out the exchange, stating that it was covering up the February 2022 hack under the guise of system maintenance. ZachXBT shared screenshots of Bitbns tweets from February 2022 and tweeted,

“Let’s call out the crypto exchange BitBNS for hiding a $7.5 million hack from their users on 1st February 2022 and then proceeding to tell them it was “system maintenance.”

Dahake Doubles Down​

However, Dahake, despite admitting to the hack, stated that the Bitbns team took down the exchange only after noticing an abnormally high throughput on their servers. According to Dahake, the team discovered that the prices of Polygon (MATIC), BNB (BNB), and Aave (AAVE) needed to be corrected, identifying a considerable difference between the buying and selling prices of the tokens. The team was also able to discover anomalies related to withdrawals.

During the course of the investigation, Dahake stated that the team discovered that specific addresses had received different tokens from the platform. These tokens were converted to Ethereum and then sent to different addresses. Dahake did not confirm the amount of funds that were compromised. However, ZachXBT put this figure at $7.5 million.

Nothing Abnormal About It ​

Interestingly, Dahake stated that this could not be considered abnormal activity, adding that the same had occurred at multiple other exchanges such as Binance, KuKoin, and others. He stated,

“Most big exchanges saw such incidents. Binance had funds compromised. BitBNS, too saw a small incident. Right before that incident, we had experienced irregular activities on the platform, and that’s when we decided to take the exchange offline for a few minutes to analyze the issue.”

Elaborating on the anomalies discovered during the investigation, Dahake stated,

“We found issues with specifically a few token prices; there was a difference in buying and selling prices. At that point in time, some users were trying to withdraw funds. We wanted to analyze the funds and found on one particular address, a certain amount of funds went from different tokens, and those got converted into Ethereum and went to different addresses.”

Dahake also added that Bitbns is currently the only exchange in India that is allowing users to withdraw their crypto. The exchange has seen a high volume of withdrawals since February 2022.

Source: Crypto Daily