As per reports, Cambridge based artificial intelligence lab Fetch.ai, filed a request based on which Royal Courts of Justice in London has ordered the world’s Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance to identify and track fraudsters involved in an alleged $2.6 million hack back on June 6.

According to report, Fetch.ai has claimed that $2.6 million worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen by hackers from its Binance account on June 6 and again resold the tokens for a significantly reduced price. Reportedly they sold those assets to a third party in an hour.

London’s High Court order has ordered Binance to identity and freeze the cryptocurrency accounts of hackers involved in this hacking on its platform. This account restrictions will prevent the hackers from removing the assets that are in question. Fetch.ai alleges that hackers made off with multiple cryptocurrencies: Tether, Binance Coin, Bitcoin, and FET, Fetch.ai’s own token.

As per Syedur Rahman, a partner from Fetch.ai's legal team at Rahman Ravelli, Binance is already in the process of tracking down the individuals and frozen some of the affected funds. Although Fetch.ai probably would have to produce evidence before it can ask the court for its money back that its account was hacked before returning the tokens. A representative for Fetch.ai told The Block "We have been working closely with Binance and local enforcement to obtain details about the hacker. Issuing a court order for the release of this information is a standard process."

Current situation in Binance

Recently Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world has come under a lot of scrutiny from institutions across the globe. Various countries including U.K cautioned users against Binance and also some of them imposed outright bans. The exchange has also been implicated in massive cash-outs of illicit funds, with reports emerging this year that the U.S. Department of Justice has begun investigating the exchange as a vector of money laundering.

At the beginning of July, two leading British banks restricted customer access to Binance. First, Barclays called a restriction to transfers of customer funds to the exchange. Then Santander UK blocked payments to Binance altogether a couple of days later.

Both institutions’ actions were responses to a consumer warning, issued by the UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).  As per the regulatory body. Binance was not authorized to conduct cryptocurrency business within the UK. Italian regulators issued a similar warning later in July. Binance suspended Pounds Sterling (GBP), the UK’s official currency, as a withdrawal option on the exchange.

Binance had to go through internal issues as two high-ranking executives resigning from their respective branches of the exchange in the space of a month. Most recently, Brian Brooks, who used to be a top U.S. banking regulator, stepped down as CEO of Binance US after serving in the role for three months.

His departure came three weeks after that of Ricardo Da Ros, who resigned from his position as director of Binance Brazil back in July. Mr Da Ros had also only been in the job a few months prior to his resignation.

Indrani bose

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA