According to a Bloomberg article on Monday, the IRA Financial Trust suffered a cybertheft of more than $36 million in cryptocurrency from some of its clients’ accounts. This financial investment company specializes in providing a range of tax-advantaged, self-directed retirement options.

You can find this acknowledgment of cyberattack at the top-right corner on the IRA Financial Trust site:

“On February 8, 2022, IRA Financial Trust discovered suspicious activity that has affected a limited subset of our customers with accounts on the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange. Each affected customer has been informed individually, and all non-impacted customers separately. Due to the ongoing investigation, we are unable to comment on individual queries.”
It’s reported that unidentified hackers siphoned more than $15 million worth of and another $21 million equivalent in from IRA Financial Trust customer accounts. According to IRA Financial Trust’s charter, it can help clients set-up and administer a variety of self-directed funding vehicles including: IRAs, Roth IRAs, SIMPLE Accounts, SEP Accounts, 401(k) plan accounts, Health Savings Accounts, and Coverdell Education Savings Accounts.

One of the unique features of IRA Financial Trust, is its ability to accommodate non-traditional assets like real estate, precious metals and cryptocurrencies. In the media report, Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, confirmed that it was tracking the $36 million in stolen cryptocurrency from IRA Financial customers, and said that it is being laundered through a “mixer” service known as Tornado.

According to the Bloomberg article, IRA Financial spokesperson Maria Stagliano said the company’s investigation is primarily focused on security controls that IRA Financial claims weren’t offered or available from Gemini. The article didn’t mention any security or safety measures that IRA Financial might have used.

Gemini replied in a reactive statement that it has a variety of security measures for institutions clients, such as IRA Financial. Bloomberg states that these security measures include mandatory two-factor authentication on all accounts as well as approved addresses.

Gemini stated that the breach was not committed and offered to help IRA Financial Trust with its investigation. No one or any group claimed the responsibility for this hacking as of today.

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