CZ addresses concerns over investigation into ‘abnormal price movements’ on Binance

by Derek McKinney | Posted on

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the CEO of Binance, has addressed concerns surrounding the investigation into “abnormal price movements” for some trading pairs on the exchange.

CZ reported that the firm had temporarily locked withdrawals for “some of the profiting accounts” that had caused complaints on social media.

In a statement, CZ said:

“We are aware of the concept of too much intervention from the platform, “too centralized” attacks, etc. There is a balance to how much we should intervene. Sometimes, these happen in free market, and we need to let it play out.”

Binance’s official Twitter account announced that the suspicious activity that sparked concern on social media did not appear to be caused by hacked accounts or stolen API keys and that funds are “SAFU.”

However, CoinMamba, a futures trader and crypto investor, revealed a different perspective on the situation when they declared on Dec. 8 that their Binance account was hacked through an API created two years ago, submitted exclusively to 3Commas, a crypto trading software provider.

CZ responded to CoinMamba, explaining that Binance had “seen multiple cases related to 3Commas,” and claims that users were phished.

Phishing attacks have been an ongoing theme, as seen in Oct. on exchanges like FTX and Binance, where users fell prey to phishing attacks targeting crypto services like 3Commas.

Though CoinMamba discarded the idea of this being a phishing case, 3Commas provided a full investigation blog post of the API key attacks on Dec. 10, describing the modern evolution of ‘phishing.’

“Over time, phishing has evolved to incorporate new attack vectors, such as paying to advertise imitation websites high in search engine rankings or to incorporate malware as part of the attack. Also, phishing has been known to target specific groups of people, high net-worth individuals or even companies (known as “Spear phishing” or “Whale phishing”)”

Despite the investigative post by 3Commas, concerns surrounding stolen API keys only grew as more Twitter users revealed losses and described 3Commas as “NOT Safe.”

Even on-chain Sleuth, ZachXBT, weighed in on the discussion:

With surmounting evidence confirming stolen API keys at 3Commas, loss of funds by multiple users, and current API data vulnerability, it is doubtful that funds are “SAFU.”

Following a Twitter debate between CoinMamba and CZ to its conclusion, a deleted comment by CZ revealed retaliatory comments suggesting the “offboarding” of both 3Commas and CoinMamba’s Binance accounts.

On Dec. 9, CoinMamba’s declared that their Binance account had been closed and received an explanatory response from Binance’s Customer Support Twitter account.

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