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Kronos Research

avoid.net/kronos-research→28/100·100% conf.
[AI-DRAFTED · AWAITING VERIFICATION][src:defillama]

Auto-generated score, not yet verified against the scoring model. Under review — treat as indicative, not a verdict.

anchored·4LCRNz…smts

Summary

Kronos Research is a Taipei-based cryptocurrency quantitative trading firm and market maker founded in 2018 by Mark Pimentel and Jack Tan. The firm experienced two serious security incidents within months of each other in 2023: an insider sabotage case in which two disgruntled engineers tampered with trading code causing $1.4 million in losses, and an external hack in November 2023 where compromised API keys led to the theft of approximately $25–26 million. The November hack cascaded onto WOO X, an exchange Kronos incubated and served as primary liquidity provider, causing a temporary trading halt and liquidations for 227 users.

Connected Entities

4 entities · 60 linked investigations
Organizations
□Kronos Research□Binance45□ZachXBT82□Alameda Research0
Relationships
  • ZachXBT→mentioned with→Binance(60%)
  • Alameda Research→mentioned with→Binance(70%)
  • Kronos Research→mentioned with→Binance(60%)
  • Kronos Research→mentioned with→ZachXBT(60%)
  • Binance→mentioned with→Alameda Research(80%)
  • Kronos Research→mentioned with→Alameda Research(80%)
Also appears in
Levyathan·18Jump Trading·42StableMagnet·2Dean Daghita / CMDSS (Command Services and Support)·0Nexera·32SafePal·42Playsomo·60BearnFi·12Gurhan Kiziloz·0Siavash Kayvanpour·0+ 50 more
Have evidence about Kronos Research?

Timeline(9 events)

June 2018

Kronos Research founded in Taipei, Taiwan by Mark Pimentel and Jack Tan.

2019

Kronos Research incubates WOO Network (later WOO X) and becomes its primary backstop liquidity provider.

27 August 2023

Two disgruntled former engineers convicted in Taipei court for tampering with Kronos Research trading algorithms over unpaid bonuses, causing $1.4 million in losses.

18 November 2023

Unauthorized party accesses Kronos Research exchange API keys and begins draining approximately $25–26 million across multiple exchanges. WOO X halts all trading at approximately 21:00 UTC due to liquidity shortage.

19 November 2023

Kronos Research publicly discloses the API key hack via X. Firm states losses will be covered internally with no partners affected. WOO X fully restores operations within approximately 11 hours.

21 November 2023

WOO X publishes transparency report detailing 227 user liquidations during the liquidity gap and confirms full user compensation.

28 November 2023

Kronos Research publicly offers hacker a 10% bounty (approximately $2.5 million) to return 90% of stolen funds, with a deadline of November 30, 2023 08:00 UTC and threat of legal action.

30 November 2023

Kronos Research bounty deadline passes with no return of funds reported.

May 2024

Hacker begins laundering stolen funds through Tornado Cash, moving approximately $4 million in 10 batches of 100 ETH.

Provenance & Audit Trail
Anchored on SolanaVerify on-chain13 Wayback Archivessrc:defillama

Decision Log

This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (1 event). 13 of 15 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.

full audit log →version history →

model: claude-sonnet-4-6

generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:37 AM

last updated: 8/30/2026, 8:24:57 AM

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