Bitmart is the latest cryptocurrency exchange that has fallen prey to hackers. The attack resulted in a loss of over $200 million in various cryptocurrencies.
<h2 class="post__title">Bitmart Hacked for $200 Million</h2>
Bitmart confirmed the hack in an official statement on Saturday, calling it “a large-scale security breach” with over $150 million worth of cryptocurrencies stolen. However, blockchain security and data analytics firm Peckshield estimates that the loss is closer to $200 million.

Peckshield estimated that hackers stole around $100 million in various cryptocurrencies on the ethereum blockchain and another $96 million from the binance smart chain. Per the list provided, the hackers made away with a mix of more than 20 tokens, including meme coins safemoon, shiba inu, BabyDoge, Floki and Moonshot.

https://twitter.com/peckshield/status/1467310381073047552

Bitmart Founder and CEO Sheldon Xia later confirmed the incident on Twitter saying:
<blockquote><em>"We have identified a large-scale security breach related to one of our ETH hot wallets and one of our BSC hot wallets. At this moment we are still concluding the possible methods used. The hackers were able to withdraw assets of the value of approximately USD 150 millions."</em></blockquote>
While its still unclear as to what possible methods the hackers used, according to Peckshield it was a classic case of “transfer-out, swap, and wash.”

The hackers appears to have used decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator 1inch to swap the stolen assets for the cryptocurrency ether (<a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/ethereum-is-a-better-value-store-than-bitcoin-academic-research-claims/">ETH</a>) and using a secondary address to deposit the ETH into privacy mixer Tornado Cash, making the hacked funds harder to track.

https://twitter.com/peckshield/status/1467318513971118083
<h2><strong>Crypto Industry Now Major Focus for Hackers</strong></h2>
Bitmart offers a mix of spot transactions, leveraged futures trading, as well as lending and staking services, ranks as one of the top centralized crypto exchanges by volume, according to CoinGecko. Founded in 2017, the company has raised $10 million in venture capital from investors including Alexander Capital Ventures, Alpha Square Group, Chaos Ventures and Fenbushi Capital.

An explosion of interest in digital assets has resulted to become a major focus for hackers. Just last week, BadgerDAO lost $120 million worth of cryptocurrencies being stolen.

Hackers Steal $200 Million from Bitmart Crypto Exchange

Bitmart is the latest cryptocurrency exchange that has fallen prey to hackers resulting in a loss of over $200 million in various cryptocurrencies.

Jafrin is a cryptocurrency journalist/researcher fascinated by the world of decentralization. She is hopeful towards blockchain’s innovation and its potential to reshape the world for good. Currently, she is bringing out the best of cryptosphere via covering the latest ins and outs of the blockchain space.

Hackers Steal $200 Million from Bitmart Crypto Exchange

Top Picks