Unveiling New Insights: Ripple Co-Founder’s XRP Loss Tied to LastPass Breach
Our editorial team, comprising industry veterans and experienced editors, is dedicated to delivering reliable and insightful content. In this article, we explore recent revelations surrounding a significant theft involving Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple.
Understanding the Ripple Co-Founder’s Asset Loss
In an unexpected development, the theft of 283 million XRP, valued at approximately $150 million at present market rates, from the wallet of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen has been traced back to a security violation involving the password manager LastPass. This significant finding was unveiled by notable blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
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The Uncovering of Events
On March 7, ZachXBT shared a screenshot on their Telegram channel, disclosing a forfeiture complaint filed by US law enforcement. According to ZachXBT, Larsen’s wallet was compromised due to the storage of private keys in LastPass, a password manager.
LastPass experienced critical security breaches in late 2022, leading to data leaks and unauthorized access to password vaults. By September 2023, connections were made between these breaches and cryptocurrency thefts exceeding $35 million since December 2022. Notably, on October 25, 2023, about $4.4 million in digital assets were stolen from 85 wallets belonging to 25 LastPass users.
Ripple’s Unfortunate Exploit
In late January 2024, ZachXBT disclosed that Ripple had fallen victim to an exploitation of roughly 213 million XRP, worth about $112.5 million at that time. Larsen later confirmed unauthorized access to his personal XRP wallets, separate from Ripple’s proprietary accounts.
The forfeiture complaint highlights that Larsen’s private wallet keys were compromised during two major security breaches involving a commercial online password manager in 2022. The FBI discovered that stolen passwords were used to illegally obtain customer data and assets.
The Legal Perspective
According to the court document, law enforcement learned that stolen data and passwords from online password manager accounts were used to illicitly access victims’ accounts, resulting in thefts of information, cryptocurrency, and other data. Although LastPass is not explicitly named, it is noted that one victim is a San Francisco resident, aligning with Larsen’s LinkedIn location.
ZachXBT clarified in their Telegram message that Chris Larsen had not previously disclosed the cause of the theft. The investigator also identified a series of dormant XRP wallets linked to Larsen, containing over 2.7 billion XRP, valued at around $7.18 billion.
XRP Market Overview
Currently, the XRP price is approximately $2.37, experiencing a rise of over 5% in the last 24 hours.
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