Bitcoin exchange Binance offers $250,000 reward to catch hackers

A bitcoin exchange has offered a $250,000 (£180,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of hackers who attacked its platform last week.

Cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance announced the reward yesterday following the attempting hacking attack on 7th March which it described as a “large-scale, organised effort”.

The exchange said that in addition to the $250,000 reward, which would be paid in cryptocurrency, it has also has established a $10m cryptocurrency reserve fund to pay rewards in case of future hacking attempts.

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The exchange said that the reward would go to “anyone who supplies information that leads to the legal arrest of the hackers involved in the attempted hacking incident on Binance.”

Binance said that hackers had obtained user logins and passwords via so called phishing attacks and then attempted to move bitcoin from these accounts to their own accounts.

However, the platform said that its automatic risk management system was triggered by the unusual trading activity and the hackers were unable to make any withdrawals from their accounts.

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Binance said that it had established the reward as part of a proactive effort to defeat hackers.

“To ensure a safe crypto community, we can’t simply play defence. We need to actively prevent any instances of hacking before they occur, as well as follow through after-the-fact,” it said in a post on its website.

In January Coincheck, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked with $534m worth of currency stolen.

More than quarter of a million users were affected, with the hackers stealing the cryptocurrency NEM in the raid.

The company said it would reimburse victims out of its own coffers.