London court orders Binance to trace hackers behind $2.6M Fetch.ai attack

Artificial intelligence research lab Fetch.ai has been granted a request to have major cryptocurrency exchange Binance identify individuals behind a $2.6 million hack.

According to a Friday Reuters report, the Royal Courts of Justice in London has ordered Binance to identify the hackers and seize the stolen assets. Fetch.ai reportedly claimed that hackers stole $2.6 million worth of cryptocurrency from its Binance account on June 6 and resold the tokens for a significantly reduced price.

"We need to dispel the myth that crypto assets are anonymous," said Syedur Rahman, a partner from Fetch.ai's legal team at Rahman Ravelli. "The reality is that with the right rules and applications, they can be tracked, traced and recovered."

Rahman reportedly claimed Binance is already in the process of tracking down the individuals and had frozen some of the affected funds. However, the exchange may request evidence from Fetch.ai that its account was hacked before returning the tokens.

“We can confirm that we are helping Fetch.ai in the recovery of assets," a Binance spokesperson said to Cointelegraph. "Binance routinely freezes accounts that are identified as having suspicious activity occurring in line with our security policies and commitment to ensuring that users are protected while using our platform.”

Related: UK-based independent legal team to tackle international crypto disputes

Binance has been at the center of attention in the United Kingdom this year as the local financial institutions announced restrictions on their customers buying cryptocurrency using the platform. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority ordered Binance Markets Limited to halt “regulated activity” in the country in June. Following that announcement, HSBC suspended credit card payments to Binance, while Barclays blocked customer payments to the exchange.