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DeFi
BitKeep Reimburses Users Affected by $8M Hack
BitKeep said it completed the compensation for users impacted by the $8m APK hack last year.
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BitKeep said it had compensated users affected by the $8 million hack in December 2022. The multichain wallet also said it would rebrand to Bitget Wallet after receiving a $30 million investment from the namesake crypto exchange last week.
BitKeep Reimburses All 11,090 Wallets Affected by the December Exploit
Multichain crypto wallet BitKeep said it had fully reimbursed users affected by the $8 million exploit late last year. According to BitKeep’s tweet, 11,090 wallets have been compensated as of March 29. BitKeep also said its customer channels would be open to help process potentially “irregular” claims.
“We have successfully compensated all eligible users who had their funds compromised due to an unprecedented external attack in late 2022. In the future, we will be working closely with Bitget and continue to upgrade existing security measures and protocols.”
– BitKeep’s Twitter Announcement.
The move comes after hackers swapped the 7.2.9. Android Package Kit (APK) update for BitKeep on Dec. 26, 2022, causing users who downloaded the malware to lose $8 million in funds. According to PeckShieldAlert, most of the stolen assets were in Ether, BNB, DAI, and USDT.
Since the hack mainly occurred due to the unofficial APK package downloads, the app’s original versions on the App Store and Play Store remained safe. Following the exploit, BitKeep urged users to transfer their funds to its Chrome wallet or the wallet downloaded from official mobile stores.
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BitKeep Rebrands to Bitget Wallet Following a $30M Investment
Meanwhile, BitKeep also announced a rebrand of its wallet after nabbing a $30 million investment last week from the Bitget crypto derivatives exchange, taking its valuation to $300 million. As part of the rebrand, BitKeep will change its name to Bitget Wallet and update its logo, app, and website “to deliver a more uniform visual presence as part of the Bitget ecosystem.”
Furthermore, BitKeep said it plans to improve its security infrastructure by making the pre-release review process more strict, partnering with security audit firms like Certik, adding MP5 verification for APK packages, and supporting hardware wallet providers like Keystone.
As part of the integration, the multichain wallet will also gain access to Bitget’s $300 million Bitget User Protection Fund in case of similar security risks. The crypto industry lost $3.7 billion due to hacks throughout 2022, 80% of which were attacks associated with decentralized finance (DeFi).
How can DeFi become safer for users, in your opinion? Let us know in the comments below.
Tim Fries
Tim Fries is the cofounder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate on the investment team at RW Baird's US Private Equity division, and is also the co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.
