Binance Claims Seizure of $73M Stolen Crypto in Bolstered Crime Fight

• Binance has reported recovering a significant amount of stolen crypto in 2024 already.
• The reported haul comes as the firm claims to be bolstering its efforts to thwart crypto crime.
• Losses to crypto hacks and scams have surged in 2024.

As crypto interest grows among bad actors, so do efforts to thwart them. In perhaps the latest example highlighting this increased security focus, Binance , the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume, has reported that it has bolstered its security efforts and recovered a large amount of crypto from hacks and scams in 2024.

Binance Takes “Proactive Security Measures”

Binance asserts that it has stepped up its security game. In a Thursday, August 8 press release shared with DailyCoin, the exchange disclosed that as of July 31, it had recovered $73 million in funds stolen from crypto users in 2024, a figure that already exceeded the $55 million it claimed to recoup in the whole of 2023, an increase the firm attributed to its “proactive security measures,” including greater collaboration with more third-party services.

According to Binance, about 80% of the recovered loot came from hacks, exploits, and thefts, while the remaining 20% came from scams. The exchange did not go into detail about the related hacks and scams. Still, the recovered assets likely include $4.2 million worth of XRP linked to a hack of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s accounts in January 2024 and $5 million in crypto recovered from the BtcTurk hack in June 2024.

While Binance has attributed the increased fund recoveries to its bolstered efforts instead of an overall surge in illicit crypto activity, recent data suggests that the latter has been on the rise in 2024, regardless.

Losses from 2024 Crypto Hacks and Scams on Track To Surpass 2023?

Over $900 million was lost in crypto hacks and scams in the first half of 2024, representing a 24% increase over the same period in 2023, per Immunefi . The spike in losses comes amid increasingly favorable market conditions that have seen excitement and fear of missing out (FOMO) make investors more susceptible to exploits.

Whether these losses will eventually cool off or continue to outpace those recorded in 2023 remains to be seen. 

On the Flipside 

• Binance entered a $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. DOJ in November 2023 over anti-money laundering (AML) rules violations.
• The assets recovered by Binance represent a small portion of the total crypto assets lost year-to-date.

Why This Matters

Security concerns continue to be a significant hurdle to crypto adoption. Efforts from industry leaders like Binance can go a long way to curb these concerns and set the tone for other firms and projects to follow.

Read this for more on crypto hacks and scams:
$573M Lost to Crypto Scams and Hacks in Q2: Immunefi

See why Toncoin (TON) is outperforming most of the market today:
Toncoin (TON) Jumps 18% on Binance Listing Announcement