Hacked Crypto Exchange BitMart to Compensate All Victims

by Arnab Shome
  • The crypto exchange lost around $196 million in Saturday’s security breach.
Hacking

BitMart, the crypto exchange that was hacked recently, is going to compensate all the victims from its own funds, the platform’s Founder and CEO, Sheldon Xia announced on Monday.

"BitMart will use our own funding to cover the incident and compensate affected users. We are also talking to multiple project teams to confirm the most reasonable solutions such as token swaps. No user assets will be harmed," Xia wrote.

The crypto exchange was hacked on Saturday with a major ‘security breach’, resulting in the theft of $196 million worth of cryptocurrencies. Hackers stole $100 million worth of digital currencies on the Ethereum blockchain, while the rest $96 million was stolen from Binance Smart Chain.

The Initial Denials

The attack was first reported on Sunday by the crypto-security firm, Peckshield. It pointed out outflows of entire token balances, some worth tens of millions of dollars, from BitMart wallet addresses.

However, the exchange slammed Peckshield’s claims initially, saying that the outflows were routine withdrawals. But, the CEO publicly confirmed the hack hours later following the denial.

“In response to this incident, BitMart has completed initial security checks and identified affected assets. This security breach was mainly caused by a stolen private key that had two of our hot wallets compromised. Other assets with BitMart are safe and unharmed,” Xia wrote on Twitter on Monday.

The attacker used a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator, 1inch to swap the stolen tokens into Ether, and then used a secondary address to send the Ether to a privacy mixer, Tornado Cash to make them harder to track.

Moreover, he confirmed that the team is now in the process of retrieving security setups and operations, asking time for making ‘proper arrangements’. Furthermore, he assured that the exchange will restart deposit and withdrawals from December 7, the details of which will be announced ‘soon’.

Meanwhile, crypto exchanges remain the hot targets of cybercriminals. Last month, the DeFi lending and borrowing platform, Cream Finance lost $130 million to hackers in a flash loan attack.

BitMart, the crypto exchange that was hacked recently, is going to compensate all the victims from its own funds, the platform’s Founder and CEO, Sheldon Xia announced on Monday.

"BitMart will use our own funding to cover the incident and compensate affected users. We are also talking to multiple project teams to confirm the most reasonable solutions such as token swaps. No user assets will be harmed," Xia wrote.

The crypto exchange was hacked on Saturday with a major ‘security breach’, resulting in the theft of $196 million worth of cryptocurrencies. Hackers stole $100 million worth of digital currencies on the Ethereum blockchain, while the rest $96 million was stolen from Binance Smart Chain.

The Initial Denials

The attack was first reported on Sunday by the crypto-security firm, Peckshield. It pointed out outflows of entire token balances, some worth tens of millions of dollars, from BitMart wallet addresses.

However, the exchange slammed Peckshield’s claims initially, saying that the outflows were routine withdrawals. But, the CEO publicly confirmed the hack hours later following the denial.

“In response to this incident, BitMart has completed initial security checks and identified affected assets. This security breach was mainly caused by a stolen private key that had two of our hot wallets compromised. Other assets with BitMart are safe and unharmed,” Xia wrote on Twitter on Monday.

The attacker used a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator, 1inch to swap the stolen tokens into Ether, and then used a secondary address to send the Ether to a privacy mixer, Tornado Cash to make them harder to track.

Moreover, he confirmed that the team is now in the process of retrieving security setups and operations, asking time for making ‘proper arrangements’. Furthermore, he assured that the exchange will restart deposit and withdrawals from December 7, the details of which will be announced ‘soon’.

Meanwhile, crypto exchanges remain the hot targets of cybercriminals. Last month, the DeFi lending and borrowing platform, Cream Finance lost $130 million to hackers in a flash loan attack.

About the Author: Arnab Shome
Arnab Shome
  • 6240 Articles
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About the Author: Arnab Shome
Arnab is an electronics engineer-turned-financial editor. He entered the industry covering the cryptocurrency market for Finance Magnates and later expanded his reach to forex as well. He is passionate about the changing regulatory landscape on financial markets and keenly follows the disruptions in the industry with new-age technologies.
  • 6240 Articles
  • 79 Followers

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