Cryptocurrency exchange gets hacked and pauses withdrawals after losing millions

In an announcement published Friday morning (14), the cryptocurrency broker Bitrue informed its customers that it had been hacked in the night.

To be more precise, the broker reported that their wallets were hacked at 4:18 AM. The announcement was published at 06:42 and showed the seriousness of the team that also managed to contain the attack.

“We were able to solve this case quickly and prevent further exploitation of funds”the broker tweeted. “We are taking this matter seriously and are investigating the situation.”

Broker lost millions on Ethereum, Shiba Inu and other cryptocurrencies

Despite his team’s agility, the Bitrue exchange reported a total loss of US$23 million (R$113 million) in six cryptocurrencies: Ethereum (ETH), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Polygon (MATIC), Gala (GALA), Quant (QNT) and Holo (HEET).

“The attackers managed to withdraw assets worth approximately USD 23 million in ETH, QNT, GALA, SHIB, HOT and MATIC”inquired Bitrue. “The affected active portfolio only owns less than 5% of our total funds. The rest of our wallet remains safe and has not been compromised.”

That is, in addition to immediately detecting the attack, which interrupted the theft, the separation of funds into two types of wallets (hot and cold) was also essential to limit the damage.

Recordings are disabled on Bitrue

Finally, Bitrue reported that withdrawals were paused for all of its customers. Withdrawals should reopen next Tuesday (18).

Since less than 5% of the exchange’s money was stolen by hackers, it seems that Bitrue is not insolvent. That is, it will continue its activities normally.

“To implement additional security checks, Bitrue will temporarily suspend all withdrawals and reopen on April 18, 2023”rounded. “We ask for your understanding and patience at this time. All users affected by this incident will be fully compensated.”

Hackers continue to target cryptocurrency exchanges

Just this week, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange suffered a BRL 69 million hack when hackers took cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and Wemix (WEMIX).

Although the amount stolen was smaller than in the Bitrue case, it involved 23% of all assets held by GDAC. That is, they will have more difficulty covering losses.

Finally, the reason exchanges are constant targets is precisely the large amount of cryptocurrencies in their wallets. Therefore, it is not recommended to use brokerage houses as custodians, but rather self-custodial solutions.

Source: Live Coins

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