Crypto investment fund Block Tower hacked

BlockTower Capital, a cryptocurrency investment firm, was targeted in a hacking incident, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday. The stolen funds have not yet been recovered. 

The hedge fund manager is collaborating with blockchain experts to determine how the breach occurred. The amount of assets stolen has not been disclosed.

Established in 2017 by Ari Paul and Matthew Goetz, BlockTower Capital has been a victim of multiple hacking incidents. 

In February 2023, the firm was affected by a $1.5 million hack of the decentralized exchange aggregator Dexible. Additionally, the firm experienced setbacks due to its exposure to Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank, both of which failed in March 2023.

BlockTower Capital operates from offices in Miami and New York, making strategic investments in ventures like Dapper Labs, Sky Mavis, and Terraform Labs. In October 2022, the company launched a $150 million venture capital fund.

The firm has more than $1.7 billion in assets under management, according to PitchBook data.

Crypto hacks plague the industry

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency hacks have been a persistent issue in the industry over the past years. 

Hackers stole $4 billion worth of cryptocurrency in 2022 alone. The value decreased to $2 billion in 2023. 

Some of the victims of crypto hacks in 2023 included Mixin Network, Euler Finance, Multichain, Atomic Wallet, and Poloniex.

Further, a recent UN report revealed that North Korea-linked hackers laundered nearly $150 million worth of stolen cryptocurrency in March alone. The notorious Lazarus Group from North Korea has been linked to several hacks using crypto-mixing platforms like Tornado Cash.

Last week, a scammer stole more than $71 million worth of WBTC coins but later returned them.

Amidst this, the Bahrain-based Rain cryptocurrency exchange was also hacked on April 29, 2024. The breach resulted in the loss of $14.8 million in BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP. Blockchain expert ZachXBT identified suspicious activity and alerted the platform about the security threat.

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