Bitcoin brokerage hacked, losing nearly R$1 billion and blocking withdrawals

Cryptocurrency broker BitMart It was hacked on Saturday night (4) and lost at least $150 million in cryptocurrency, or about 848 million riyals. According to the company, the hot Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain (BSC) wallets were affected.

The company said in a blog post that it is investigating what happened. Platform “Identified a large-scale security breach related to one of the Ethereum and BSC wallets”. The text confirmed the loss of about $150 million in funds due to the hack.

“We have identified a massive security breach affecting one of our ETH wallets and one of our BSC wallets. We are continuing to work on identifying possible methods of attack. The affected ETH and BSC wallets contained a small percentage of our assets; the rest of the wallets remain secured. We are suspending withdrawals until further notice “BitMart Founder and CEO, Sheldon Sia said.

Security company identified the attack

The attack on the brokerage was first identified by security and data analytics firm Peckshield, which initially identified a suspicious transfer of about $100 million. Another investigation by the security team revealed the theft of more than 96 million dollars.

Rated total loss: ~200M (~100M on Tweet embed and ~96 million Tweet embed ). (Previously, we only counted the loss Tweet embed). Here is the list of assets/amounts affected on Tweet embed pic.twitter.com/cXXApDFtd7

– PeckShield Inc. (pickshield) December 5 2021

According to the security firm, the hackers have stolen at least 20 cryptocurrencies, including Binance Coin (BNB), Safemoon, BSC-USD, and BPaу. Hackers have also stolen a large amount of meme coins like BabуDoge, Floki and Moonshot.

Broker denied the attack

The broker initially denied information about the hack. On the platform’s Telegram channel, users were assured that their money was safe, and that news about the security issue was described as “false”, then the company confirmed the attack and blocked withdrawals.

The company’s founder and CEO, Sheldon Shea, confirmed that the wallet had been hacked. According to him, the loss amounted to 150 million dollars.

“We discovered a major security breach related to one of our wallets. At the moment, we are still discovering the potential attack vector. Hackers managed to withdraw $150 million.”, He said.

1/3 We have identified a widespread security breach related to one of our hot ETH wallets and one of our BSC hot wallets. At the moment we are still finalizing the possible methods used. The hackers managed to withdraw assets estimated at $150 million.

– Sheldon Shea (@sheldonbitmart) December 5 2021

Prohibited withdrawals

Through analysis on the blockchain, security analysts have determined that hackers are using decentralized brokerages like 1-inch to sell stolen funds.

Very simple: turn out, swap, wash Tweet embed pic.twitter.com/LyA03sbgCZ

– PeckShield Inc. (pickshield) December 5 2021

The brokerage has suspended withdrawals and said it will only release them when the situation is resolved. A BitMart address displays a steady stream of tokens for an address titled “BitMart Hacker” in Etherscan.

The Tweet embed 9 numbers ($100M+) meme coins have been hacked.

Hacker uses files @ 1 inch @k06a to sell everything ETH dollar Then send to Tweet embed https://t.co/aC54CZfQXH

– napgener 0xBearMarket (@napgener) December 5 2021

The company said the stolen funds are a “small percentage of its assets” and all other wallets are “safe and untouched.”

“We are conducting a full security review and will post updates as we go.”

We are temporarily suspending withdrawals until further notice. We ask for your understanding and patience in this situation. Thank you so much.