Crypto platform BitMart loses $150m in weekend hack
15:42, 6 December 2021
A cryptocurrency platform has confirmed a “large-scale security breach” resulting in the loss of about $150m (£113m) in assets to hackers over the weekend.
“We have identified a large-scale security breach related to one of our ETH hot wallets and one of our (Binance Smart Chain) hot wallets today,” BitMart said in a blog post.
“At this moment we are still concluding the possible methods used," the company said. “Hackers were able to withdraw assets of the value of approximately $150m”.
Withdrawal suspension
The exchange said it has temporarily suspended withdrawals until further notice.
BitMart is a centralized crypto exchange based in the Cayman Islands with four offices located in New York, China, Hong Kong and Seoul.
According to data compiled by Coinmarketcap.com, BitMart is ranked 115 amongst crypto exchanges based on traffic, liquidity, trading volumes and confidence in the legitimacy of reported trading volumes.
What is your sentiment on ETH/USD?
BitMart CEO responds
“BitMart will use our own funding to cover the incident and compensate affected users,” BitMart founder and CEO Sheldon Xia said in a series of tweets.
BitMart’s Xia added that deposit and withdrawal functions would begin on 7 December with the exact timeline to be announced “very soon”.
BitMart's Sheldon Xia responds to the weekend hack – Photo: TwitterLosses near $200m
However, a tweet from third-party security and data analytics firm PeckShield put BitFarm’s losses closer to $200m.
A tweet from PeckShield outlining BitMart's potential losses – Photo: TwitterEarlier this year, decentralised finance platform Poly Networks reported a hack of over $600m in assets, which were then returned by the hacker.
Read more: Safemoon price prediction: Will the price break out?
Markets in this article
Related topics