As confirmed in their official statement, Bitmart, an online crypto exchange, has experienced a severe security breach. Hackers attacked the platform and took around 196$ million worth of assets, Peckshield, a blockchain analysis firm, confirms.
According to official numbers, the attackers took a 100$ million worth of crypto from the Ethereum network and 96$ million from Binance Smart Chain. Altogether, the hackers took a variety of around 20 coins, including Shiba Inu, Binance Coin, Safemoon, and others.
Bitmart has stated that they will be temporarily suspending all withdrawals until further inspection into the matter is carried out. Despite the astonishing sum of losses, the company claims that only a small percentage of their hot wallets have been affected by this attack and that the rest of their wallets are secure.
While the method used by the hackers is still unclear, Peckshield confirms that the scheme was “pretty straightforward: transfer-out, swap, and wash.”
As Bitmart belongs to a number of exchanges that typically rank high when it comes to volume, the crypto community feels uneasy about the recent attack. The pressure is building up once again for exchanges to keep their clients’ funds secure. We advise anyone who trades (or considers trading) crypto to undergo a thorough examination of the exchange’s security that they wish to trade on.