Crypto exchange offers a $250 000 bounty for hacker tip-offs

Hong Kong - One of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges is going on the offensive to deter hacking attempts that have plagued the industry.

Binance, founded by Zhao Changpeng, is offering the equivalent of $250 000 (paid in cryptocurrency) for information that leads to the arrest of hackers who targeted the venue last week, it said in a statement on Sunday.

The exchange has set aside $10m for future bounties and is encouraging other platforms to do the same, it said.

Binance disclosed last week that it had been the target of a “large-scale phishing and stealing attempt”. While the exchange said “all funds are safe”, Binance noted that it was unable to reverse some trades from accounts targeted by the hackers.

As prices of digital assets have soared, the platforms that trade them have become increasingly juicy targets for cyber thieves. Hackers stole tokens worth about $700m from venues in Japan and Italy since the start of this year.

The robberies have added pressure on both exchanges and regulators to do more to protect investors.

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