Helium foundation has alerted Binance about a bug that resulted in users erroneously receiving about $20 million worth of HNT. The error occurred when Binance’s system mistook the MOBILE token for the HNT token. This allowed users to send MOBILE balances to HNT wallets, and then sell that into the market. However, the Foundation is urging all users to take precautions and to check their accounts to ensure they have not been affected by the bug.
The Helium Foundation, the organization behind the MOBILE token, told The Block that the issue is not a chain issue and is isolated to the exchange. The glitch effectively gave users dollars for pennies and allowed some 4,829,043 MOBILE tokens to exploit Binance's accounting system," the foundation said.
The exchange counted them as one asset, when in fact they are two separate assets. This caused some depositors who sent MOBILE to Binance addresses to get the equivalent amount of the more valuable HNT.
The foundation added that it is working with Binance to ensure that the issue is resolved and that users are compensated.
We are working with Binance to ensure that the matter is resolved and that those who were affected are fairly compensated, the foundation said.
Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, didn’t immediately respond to a call for comment on the report.
HNT Takes a Hit Following Selloff by Users Capitalizing on Exploit
The recent sell-off of HNT tokens has caused the price to drop from $7 to the current level of around $4. This coincides with the timing of the payouts, which suggests that the sell-off was likely due to people selling their tokens in order to receive the payout.
The sell-off by users taking advantage of the exploit has caused HNT to trade down momentarily, currently around $4.28. This may have been due to the fact that the exploit allowed users to earn a higher return on their investment, which made selling their HNT more attractive. Currently, the market is green and looking to be much more stable as selling pressure subdues.
