Chinese Electric Vehicle Maker Nio Faces Ransom Threat, CEO Blames Bitcoin
On December 20, electric vehicle manufacturer Nio announced that the company had received a ransom threat, with hackers demanding $2.25 million in Bitcoin in Bitcoin in exchange for not leaking Nio’s internal data.
Specifically, Nio received an extortion email demanding $2.25 million in Bitcoin, threatening to release stolen data if their demands were not met. Preliminary investigations revealed that the compromised data included basic user information and transaction details up to August 2021.
Li Bin, CEO and Chairman of Nio, expressed his outrage and stated that the company would never yield to extortionists. He emphasized that the company is committed to a thorough investigation:
“We pledge to take full responsibility for any damage caused to users, even if it means the company might go bankrupt. Anyone who attempts to buy or use this stolen data will face severe consequences.”
However, in an interview on December 25, Li Bin blamed Bitcoin for making data extortion particularly easy.
Following this, Justin Sun, Senior Advisor at Huobi, commented on the incident and expressed readiness to assist Nio in locating the perpetrators swiftly.
“It’s unfortunate that Nio’s user data has been exploited for extortion. I hope Nio can bring these hackers to justice as soon as possible,” Sun stated.
Sun also criticized Li Bin for blaming Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general:
“But it’s unfair for Li Bin to blame Bitcoin. Bitcoin can actually be tracked transparently through blockchain technology. Tracing the flow of funds would make it easier to prevent extortion compared to cash. Once again, Bitcoin is innocent.”
