- BtcTurk cryptocurrency exchange delists Terra Luna Classic (LUNC).
- Security auditing firm CertiK estimated the financial damage at $90 million.
- BtcTurk’s unsolicited announcement outraged the LUNC community.
Türkiye’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, BtcTurk, suffered a massive cyberattack last weekend. The exchange claimed that one in ten cryptocurrency balances in hot wallets were affected and that LUNC would be delisted. Renowned on-chain detective ZachXBT estimated the total damage at $54.2 million.
Hints for further research into missing $90 million
ZachXBT counted 1.96 million Avalanche (AVAX) tokens from suspicious cryptocurrency addresses. This address was used to withdraw digital assets from BtcTurk, which were later exchanged for assets on Coinbase and THORChain.
After a closer investigation by blockchain security audit firm CertiK, it was determined that more than $90 million in cryptocurrency funds had been leaked from the platform.
A major security breach has led to a massive sell-off of certain cryptocurrencies that have been captured by fraudsters. In addition to the 1.96 million AVAX coins discovered by ZachXBT, 350,000,000,000 Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) tokens were leaked from BtcTurk’s treasury.
These LUNC coins, worth $28.55 million, were moved between cryptocurrency wallets to hide the origin of the funds. Upon further investigation by DailyCoin, the fraudsters first cashed out 325 billion LUNC tokens from one of BtcTurk’s hot wallets. These digital assets were delivered to several bait wallets on the Terra Classic chain before finally being deposited into Binance.
Terra Luna Classic dumped 20% after hacking.
Prominent Terra Luna Classic community members have linked the $90 million BtcTurk hack to LUNC’s plunge last weekend, but the community is divided on how this will impact performance. LUNC plummeted to a three-month low of $0.00007362 on June 22.
LUNC’s connection to the hack also contributed to the incident reducing its market capitalization by nearly $100 million.
However, Terra Luna Classic’s funding and burning mechanics gave this story some scarcity. Under the newly implemented LUNC burn tax regulations, all transactions will be contributed to the Community Pool (CP), a long-term fund to pursue LUNC’s recovery plan.
The devastating BtcTurk hack resulted in 800,000,000 LUNC tokens flooding into CP, which can be allocated to new development projects. The hackers’ overly complex transactions to erase traces of malicious activity resulted in daily burning of LUNC, adding a massive 6.5 billion LUNC to the community’s bonfire.
At press time, Terra Luna Classic is trading at $0.00008052, up 7.6% in the last 24 hours. Despite a weak rally, LUNC is down 23% over the past two weeks. As depicted in the question in the LUNC Ninja thread, the community is very anxious about the future of the coin. “Has the sale of this corporation been completed?”
On the flip side
- A significant portion of the LUNC community is concerned that more delistings could potentially occur. Specifically On Binance.
- Since Binance is overseen by the Forensic Risk Alliance (FRA), LUNC may be delisted due to the coin’s ‘unregistered security’ status to mitigate legal implications.
Why This Matters
Blockchain security has been a hot topic of discussion in 2024, and the hack of Turkey’s top cryptocurrency exchange is likely to have global repercussions as Turkey is a leader in cryptocurrency adoption.
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