A colossal transaction of 25.6 billion XRP worth nearly $15 billion from an unknown wallet to Bitfinex exchange initially caused a stir but was quickly revealed to be a failed hacking attempt. Blockchain tracker Whale Alert first highlighted the jaw-dropping transfer of almost half the circulating XRP supply before deleting the post after realizing it was an erroneous alert.
Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino then disclosed that the transaction was actually an unsuccessful attack using a “partial payments exploit.” This malicious technique tricks systems into recognizing a false amount different from what is sent. The hacker manipulated a transaction field to show a smaller sum than the actual amount, hoping to get credited the difference by Bitfinex.
Fortunately, Bitfinex’s system correctly handles the ‘delivered_amount’ data, foiling the exploit. Shockingly, the attacker also attempted an even larger 58.9 billion XRP transfer exploit on Binance, which similarly failed.
This incident comes after Bitfinex faced a minor breach in November 2022 when a customer support agent was phished, enabling limited phishing attacks on some users. Bitfinex assured no significant damage occurred, no customer funds were lost, and it is working with authorities to find the phishing perpetrator.
While hackers continue targeting Bitfinex, the exchange has strengthened defenses over its decade-plus history. Under CEO Jean-Louis van der Velde since 2013, Bitfinex now ranks 17th in CoinGecko’s ‘Trust Score’ among all exchanges. The aborted $15 billion transaction exploit exemplifies Bitfinex’s growing resilience against attacks.
