BitMart CEO Sheldon Xia admit Sunday’s hack was caused by a stolen private key. Xia said the stolen money belonged to two compromised hot wallets, but tried to reassure users that all other activity was “safe and secure”.

“BitMart has carried out initial security reviews and identified the affected assets. This security breach was mainly caused by a stolen private key that compromised two of our hot wallets. Other assets at BitMart are safe and sound. ”

Hot wallets refer to cryptocurrency wallets that are accessible online. Cold wallets are now not connected to the Internet and are considered more secure due to the lack of online access.

Exchanges typically use both to perform different parts of their operations, with hot wallets acting as a source of liquidity to facilitate withdrawal requests from users.

Although Xia called BitMart will compensate users for any damage, but the incident again shows the dangers of keeping coins on the exchange.

20 tokens stolen

One explain The BitMart official said a “massive security breach” had affected their ETH hot wallet BSC and the hacker had withdrawn about $ 150 million.

However, data analytics firm Peckshield estimates the damage could be closer to $ 200 million. The analysis of the affected wallets by Peckshield shows that around 100 million US dollars have been withdrawn from ETH wallets and around 96 million US dollars from BSC wallets, and around 20 tokens are affected, including SHIB and BNB, such as SHIB and BNB. Bitcoin magazine reported.

The stolen funds were sent to the decentralized exchange, including 1inch, and exchanged for ETH. The hacker then sent the exchanged funds to the crypto mixer to “wash” or shuffle the tokens, making tracking difficult.

Despite the mixed numbers, the exchange announced that it is currently conducting an in-depth security review and will update the situation shortly. They added that withdrawals will be temporarily suspended and ask users to be patient during this difficult time.

Xia offers normal service period again

In addition to BitMart’s security investigations, Xia called His team is also working hard to restore normal operations. During this time he once again appealed for patience.

“We are currently doing our best to restore our security settings and operations. We need time to rationalize and your understanding during this time would be greatly appreciated. ”

Regarding the deadline for resuming normal operation of the deposit and withdrawal services, Xia demonstrate December 7th, but that may change as the situation evolves.

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Minh Anh

According to Cryptoslate

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