Algo Capital Loses Millions in Crypto as CTO’s Mobile Hacked

Monday, 07/10/2019 | 13:30 GMT by Arnab Shome
  • The CTO took full responsibility and resigned after the incident.
Algo Capital Loses Millions in Crypto as CTO’s Mobile Hacked
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A hot wallet belongs to Algo Capital, a Blockchain -focused VC firm, was recently compromised, resulting in the theft of funds between $1 million to $2 million.

The cybercriminals targeted the mobile phone of Pablo Yabo, the former CTO of the venture capital firm, to gain access to a hot crypto wallet managed by him and siphoned USDT and ALGO tokens.

In a statement published on Monday, Yabo took full responsibility for the stolen funds.

“The operation was very swift, within minutes the hackers had been able to access a sensitive file and transferred all stolen crypto funds,” he detailed. “They moved to split the funds into numerous accounts and transferred all funds separately to exchanges.”

He also detailed that most of the damages will be paid by him personally and also resigned from his position at Algo Capital after the incident.

“I take responsibility for this and thus will be personally covering most of the stolen funds and the rest will be covered by Algo Capital General Partners,” Yabo added.

Promoting Alogorand blockchain

Founded by David Garcia and Arul Murugan, the Algo Capital is focused exclusively on backing Algorand’s economy. It has developed different financial products that accelerate access, adoption, and Liquidity of the Algo, the native digital currency of the Algorand blockchain.

In August, the company secured $200 million for its Algo VC Fund from various venture capitals. It closed another $62 million funding round in 2018.

“The incident made me think thoroughly about the state of the ecosystem and the difficulties to secure and operate funds while doing it in a versatile manner,” Yabo added.

“It is still very complicated to secure funds for institutions that need them readily available. Until this interface problem is not solved, the global adoption of this technology by businesses will not happen.”

A hot wallet belongs to Algo Capital, a Blockchain -focused VC firm, was recently compromised, resulting in the theft of funds between $1 million to $2 million.

The cybercriminals targeted the mobile phone of Pablo Yabo, the former CTO of the venture capital firm, to gain access to a hot crypto wallet managed by him and siphoned USDT and ALGO tokens.

In a statement published on Monday, Yabo took full responsibility for the stolen funds.

“The operation was very swift, within minutes the hackers had been able to access a sensitive file and transferred all stolen crypto funds,” he detailed. “They moved to split the funds into numerous accounts and transferred all funds separately to exchanges.”

He also detailed that most of the damages will be paid by him personally and also resigned from his position at Algo Capital after the incident.

“I take responsibility for this and thus will be personally covering most of the stolen funds and the rest will be covered by Algo Capital General Partners,” Yabo added.

Promoting Alogorand blockchain

Founded by David Garcia and Arul Murugan, the Algo Capital is focused exclusively on backing Algorand’s economy. It has developed different financial products that accelerate access, adoption, and Liquidity of the Algo, the native digital currency of the Algorand blockchain.

In August, the company secured $200 million for its Algo VC Fund from various venture capitals. It closed another $62 million funding round in 2018.

“The incident made me think thoroughly about the state of the ecosystem and the difficulties to secure and operate funds while doing it in a versatile manner,” Yabo added.

“It is still very complicated to secure funds for institutions that need them readily available. Until this interface problem is not solved, the global adoption of this technology by businesses will not happen.”

About the Author: Arnab Shome
Arnab Shome
  • 6582 Articles
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About the Author: Arnab Shome
Arnab is an electronics engineer-turned-financial editor. He entered the industry covering the cryptocurrency market for Finance Magnates and later expanded his reach to forex as well. He is passionate about the changing regulatory landscape on financial markets and keenly follows the disruptions in the industry with new-age technologies.
  • 6582 Articles
  • 94 Followers

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