The next crypto hack never feels far away. You can only hope it doesn’t affect you. But hope is not an effective strategy, as thousands of Bilaxy users just found out.
A hacker exploited the platform’s ERC20 hot wallet over the weekend, with estimates speculating that up to $450 million in Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), Uniswap (UNI), and other altcoins went missing.
All the stolen funds went to one wallet before the hacker dumped them on a decentralized exchange. And therein lies a lesson.
If you want to protect yourself from a hack, do not buy from coins listed on DEXes.
Allow us to explain why.
Decentralized exchanges are an escape route
After the Bilaxy hack, Uniswap lit up.
One wallet dumped as many stolen tokens as possible in just a few hours, crashing their prices by as much as ninety percent.
In essence — the hacker was using Uniswap as their way out, harnessing its decentralization as a way to anonymously swap the altcoins for other cryptocurrencies and so, completing their escape.
You see, decentralized exchanges let anyone use them.
They do not carry out KYC. There’s no way to freeze a wallet. And that’s what makes them the hacker’s dream.
That is — unless companies do what Elitium does.
Even though we listed EUM on Bilaxy some time ago, we avoided collateral damage from the Bilaxy hack by never listing the token on a decentralized exchange.
We made this strategic decision when we founded the company as we believed it would protect our investors’ interests in the long term. Instead, we’ve only pursued partnerships with trusted centralized exchanges.
The latest hack validates the choice. It showcases how meeting traditional finance standards benefits investors.
Because by ensuring anyone who buys EUM must first pass KYC, we can protect everyone else from the side-effects of a hack. We can do this by asking our exchange partners to blacklist a hacker’s wallet address, guaranteeing no stolen EUM ever finds its way onto the market.
As a result, EUM remained stable over the weekend, as did our investors’ balances — but that’s not the only way we keep your funds safe.
Insurance and custody offer second-layer protection
Our focus on top-tier exchanges safeguards the value of your EUM.
But that doesn’t actually protect you from a hack. The only real way to protect yourself is to buy your cryptocurrency from our platform.
If you do, you’ll benefit in two ways.
1. You get extensive insurance
Elitium has three insurance policies covering crypto-specific risks like smart contract failures and malicious activity.
We are currently developing an integration with Union, inSure, and Nexus Mutual that will act as principal providers. So when you buy from Elitium, your funds instantly fall under their comprehensive policies.
2. Sophisticated Custody
While insurance protects against things going wrong, our custody partner helps us avoid such eventualities.
AMDAX is the Netherlands’ first crypto asset manager registered with the Dutch Central Bank. And all idle funds held with Elitium sit in AMDAX’s state-of-the-art cold wallet solution.
Elitium CTO JP Morand has also spent the best part of three years building a platform that meets the quality standards of traditional finance while leveraging the blockchain. So you not only benefit from the highest levels of cybersecurity.
You also get zero fees on transfers, instant transactions, total transparency, and no spreads on the order book.
Resulting in one of the best crypto investment experiences around.
Stay safe and maximize value
A primary reason people avoid investing in crypto is they feel it’s insecure. While that’s true in some cases, there are steps you can take to stay extremely safe.
If you avoid coins that list on decentralized exchanges, that’s a great place to start. Tokens list on DEXes as they promise quick sales. But DEXes also compromise security, as we’ve seen with this latest hack.
If you then favor platforms like Elitium that protect long-term value by focusing on compliance, you’ll not only keep your funds safe.
You’ll thoroughly enjoy investing in crypto.
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