SEC to ban Binance PH and crypto exchange gets hacked
Wondering what’s the latest updates in the crypto world? Read about SEC's decision to ban Binance PH and the hacking that resulted in a $26m loss.
SEC to ban Binance PH and crypto exchange gets hacked
In November 2023, financial authorities in the Philippines notified Binance that it was working in the country without a licence. They warned people not to use Binance because the company wasn't licensed to sell or offer crypto services in the country.
Officials warned the world’s biggest exchange that its operations would be blocked if the issue isn’t fixed by the end of February 2024. A spokeswoman for the PH's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that the agency is assessing the impacts of the Binance ban and its effects on Filipino users.
‘Officials are working with other government agencies on the procedure of restraining unregistered entities’ operations in the Philippines’, the spokesperson said. Despite running out of time, Binance hasn't spoken about the issue in public.
The cryptocurrency sector in the PH is expected to have 14 million Bitcoin users by 2028. Even with the possible increase in crypto users, it’s still unsure whether the SEC will follow through with its warning or give Binance more time.
Despite the grave issue, Binance still refused to give a statement. Some think this is due to Binance trying to move on from its historic guilty plea in the US in November 2023.
The company admitted that it broke banking rules and agreed to pay fines of $4.3 billion. It hired Richard Teng as CEO from co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who also admitted to breaking US banking law.
Teng vowed to make an effort to follow the crypto rules worldwide. Just a week after his promise, the PH became a test case for Teng and Binance 2.0. However, Binance has yet to make any effort to fix the problems that officials pointed out.
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Crypto exchange FixedFloat gets hacked for $26m in BTC
FixedFloat, a crypto exchange with no security procedures or know-your-customer (KYC) process, was hacked earlier in February 2024. Over 1,700 Ethereum (ETH) and 400 Bitcoin (BTC) which are equivalent to around $26 million, were stolen.
BlockFence, a blockchain security company, found the BTC address that was used to steal the assets. They also found on-chain data from a related ETH address that showed various high-value transactions to different addresses.
Another blockchain analytics company, PeckShield, says that the stolen funds were moved through the ETH mixer eXch soon after the hack. This makes it harder to find the stolen assets. They also said that some of the stolen funds were moved to HitBTC and CoinSpot and called the wallet address a ‘FixedFloat drainer’.
FixedFloat assured the public that one of their workers didn't do the hack. ‘It was an external attack caused by vulnerabilities in our security structure’, the exchange said.
‘The problem was in our infrastructure, which was compromised due to flaws and insufficient protection. This allowed the attackers to gain access to some of the functions of our service’, it added.
FixedFloat first stated that there were ‘minor technical problems’ after the hack and put its systems into ‘maintenance mode’. This was before the full scope of the cryptocurrency hack became public. This only made Bitcoin users more confused and worried including those who use the exchange to play at casino sites like Gamdom.
