ZB Exchange

On August 2, 2022, ZB Exchange, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency platform, halted withdrawals, citing “temporary maintenance” and “core application failure,” only for blockchain security firm PeckShield to reveal a $4.8 million drain from its hot wallet the next day, including USDT, MATIC, SHIB, and other tokens, per CoinDesk.

Detected at 08:25 UTC, the funds were swapped for 2,224 ETH ($3.6 million) on decentralized exchanges, with $1 million in DAWN and LEO tokens remaining, per Etherscan (0x1e3…).

ZB, with $1 billion daily trading volume per CoinMarketCap, never confirmed a hack, and its silence, coupled with a suspended Twitter (@ZBexchange), inactive LinkedIn, and evasive Telegram responses from “Hayuze,” fueled suspicions of an exit scam, per NEFTURE Security. CEO Omar Chen left in June 2022, and VP Aurora Wong’s activity ceased post-hack, per LinkedIn.

Users reported unanswered emails and bans for questioning, per Reddit (r/CryptoCurrency). No funds were recovered, and ZB’s website was last updated in November 2022, per Coinpedia.

ZB’s saga is a crypto ghost story: a once-thriving exchange vanishing into the digital ether, leaving users to haunt Telegram channels, clutching empty wallets, and whispering of scams in a realm where trust is the rarest currency.