Yi He, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has denied allegations that a breach in platform security resulted in the loss of $1 million in cryptocurrency from a single user account. On June 3, He took to social media to address the issue.
The same day, a crypto trader known as Nakamao claimed that their entire account balance had been wiped out due to “counter-trading” without the need for their Binance account password or two-factor authentication details. Nakamao explained that a security firm informed them that the hacker had taken control of their account by holding their web cookies hostage. The hacker then made trades using Nakamao’s account, resulting in significant losses.
In response, Binance’s customer service team stated that a hacker had gained access to Nakamao’s account login details through a plug-in and carried out unauthorized transactions. The exchange reportedly froze Nakamao’s account within a minute and 19 seconds of being notified, but the damage had already been done due to the leveraged trades.
He warned users about the risks of using active cookie plugins to save time during logins, emphasizing that Binance cannot compensate users if their login details are compromised. He, a former Chinese TV host, is one of the two women in top leadership positions at major cryptocurrency exchanges globally, with Bitget’s CEO, Gracy Chen, being the other. Earlier in April, He’s spouse and Binance’s co-founder and former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, received a favorable outcome in his legal case in the United States regarding money laundering charges.
In a related incident, a woman has been accused of a $6 billion scam, raising concerns about a loophole in China for Hong Kong-based Bitcoin ETFs.