ChangeNOW returns $1M worth of MATIC coins after Eterbase hack

ChangeNOW has returned $1 million worth of MATIC (MATIC/USD) coins stolen in last year’s Eterbase hack, which is yet another important milestone for the platform and the quintessence of its tradition. On September 8, 2020, European cryptocurrency exchange Eterbase reported it had been hacked a day earlier. Soon thereafter, ChangeNOW received a request to blocklist certain addresses.

AML system prevented fund conversion

ChangeNOW stopped an exchange of 600,000 MATIC to Bitcoin (BTC/USD) that same day, thereby preventing the funds from being converted and moved. Instead, they were frozen pending a claim by the legitimate owner for the stolen assets.

Platform initiated conversion with Eterbase due to lack of claim

There's a one-year period after the transaction was blocked for a legitimate owner to request a refund according to ChangeNOW’s Terms of Service. As there was no claim, ChangeNOW initiated the conversation with Eterbase.

The recipient was validated in cooperation with the Slovak Police Department and the amount of 600,000 MATIC stolen was returned. In one year, its value had grown about 90-fold.

Mike Ermolaev, head of PR at ChangeNOW, told Invezz:

Justice is top priority for ChangeNOW

Back in 2019, ChangeNOW stopped a few suspicious transactions in the amount of 500,000 XRP (XRP/USD) stolen in the GateHub hack. Last month, the platform returned $15 million worth of COMP (COMP/USD) to Compound Finance. The "good karma" principle is central to everything ChangeNOW does.