Ripple Founder Hacked for $113 Million, XRP Drops 5%

Ripple's XRP token dropped following word of a $112.5 million hack, which co-founder Chris Larsen said were from his "personal" accounts.

Jan 31, 2024

2 min read

Image: Shutterstock

The price of XRP dropped Wednesday morning Eastern Time following reports of a hack on Ripple, the fintech company whose founders created the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

Ripple co-founder and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen said on Twitter (aka X) that there "was unauthorized access to a few of my personal XRP accounts," but ultimately clarified that the attack was not against Ripple itself.

He added that the exchanges had frozen the addresses and that “law enforcement is already involved.”

Pseudonymous blockchain sleuth ZachXBT tweeted Wednesday morning that hackers made away with about 213 million XRP, or $112.5 million worth, before laundering it through exchanges.

Yesterday, there was unauthorized access to a few of my personal XRP accounts (not @Ripple) – we were quickly able to catch the problem and notify exchanges to freeze the affected addresses. Law enforcement is already involved. https://t.co/T3HtKSlzLg

— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) January 31, 2024

XRP is down nearly 5% in the past day, now trading hands for just over $0.50, according to data from CoinGecko.

One of the oldest cryptocurrencies, XRP was launched to help banks and other financial institutions move money fast and with very low fees.

Editor's note: This story was updated with additional information and clarification after publication.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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