Binance Offers 25 BTC Reward for Information on KYC Data Leak

This week, KYC (Know Your Customer) data allegedly stolen from Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, began circulating online. Unknown individuals created a Telegram channel that attracted over 10,000 subscribers and shared more than 400 images of people holding passports and identification documents. The photos reportedly include users from France, Turkey, the United States, Japan, Russia, and other countries.

Binance representatives have already published an official statement explaining the situation. According to the statement, unknown attackers recently attempted to extort Binance, demanding a ransom of 300 BTC (about $3.5 million USD). The extortionists threatened to release 10,000 photos “resembling Binance KYC data” if their demands were not met.

Binance refused to pay the ransom and continues to investigate the possible incident, trying to determine whether there is any truth to the extortionists’ claims. The KYC data circulating online raises many questions. When comparing this information with their own records, Binance found numerous inconsistencies. For example, the images lack the digital watermarks that Binance uses, and so far, the exchange has found no evidence that these images are related to Binance KYC data at all.

Preliminary findings suggest that all the images appear to be dated February 2018. At that time, Binance had contracted a third-party service provider to process a large number of KYC requests. The exchange is currently conducting an investigation together with this third-party provider and law enforcement agencies, promising to keep users informed of any developments.

Binance experts believe that the published data set is not new, and media outlets reported on this leak earlier this year. At that time, a hacker also claimed to have KYC information from several cryptocurrency exchanges but refused to provide any proof.

Currently, Binance is offering rewards of up to 25 BTC (depending on the relevance of the information) for any details that could help identify the unknown extortionist and bring them to justice.