Bitmain is a renowned company in the cryptocurrency industry. Their main bread and butter revolves around creating specialized mining equipment. This company has also filed a lawsuit against unknown individuals. This filing comes on the heels of the company’s Binance account being hacked and funds being stolen.
Bitmain Seeks Justice
Cryptocurrency exchange hacks have become all too common over the years. In most cases, individual users are affected. Every now and then, however, companies associated with projects or companies can be abused as well. For Bitmain, its Binance account was compromised by an unknown individual. Because of this intrusion, the mining manufacturer lost 617 bitcoins, worth roughly $5.5 million at the time of the theft.
It is believed the stolen funds were not converted to US Dollars. Instead, the lawsuit claims, these funds were moved tot he Bittrex exchange. The hacker used this latter platform to heavily inflate the price of a relatively unpopular altcoin called MANA. It is unclear if this is an attempt at laundering money, or if it serves a more nefarious purpose. Bitcoin’s transparent nature makes it very easy to track the origins and destinations of specific transactions.
For an unknown reason, the Binance account “hacker” did not empty Bitmain’s account entirely. Instead, he, she, or they left over 200 Bitcoin in the account belonging to Bitmain. Why that was done in such a manner, remains unclear to this very date. Bitmain alleges this confirms the culprit clearly intended fraud and was intent on causing damages to the firm itself.
Finding the Real Culprit is Difficult
The lawsuit stands out for another reason as well. Bitmain officially filed it against “John Doe”. This confirms neither the company nor its legal representatives know the real identity of the culprit. Filing the lawsuit in Washington is not done randomly, though. Bittrex, one of the exchanges involved in this defrauding scheme, is based in Seattle, Washington.
Given the unknown identity of the culprit, the outcome of this lawsuit remains in question. Bitmain is intent on uncovering the identity of the person responsible for these financial losses. Whether or not taking legal action will help them in this regard, is difficult to predict. It is unfortunate to see such a prominent company fall victim to exchange account issues.
This lawsuit comes on the heels of another crypto-related filing. Several cryptocurrency investors filed charges against two major US telcos over SIM swapping incidents. Considering how exchange hacks are very common, it is not unlikely more legal proceedings will follow in the months and years to come. How that will affect exchange operators in the long run, is anybody’s guess.
What will be the outcome of this case? Will Bitmain be able to recover the stolen funds from the as yet unknown hacker? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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