Crypto trading platform Bitmart said on Saturday that hackers had withdrawn about $150 million in assets. The firm later announced they have taken it a step further and are investigating what happened, as well as working with third-party security company Peckshield who has put the total amount closer to 200+ Million American Dollars.
The Crypto World Responds: What Does This Mean For The Future Of Cryptocurrency?
Bitmart, a cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea that was hacked last year, has refused to comment on the discrepancy between their estimates and blockchain security firm Peckshield's estimation of lost assets.
In an official statement Monday morning, Bitmart said that they had completed security checks and identified the affected assets. The exchange says hackers primarily stole private keys from two hot wallets but other holdings are "safe and unharmed."
The crypto exchanges have been hacked. The affected ethereum and binance smart chain “hot wallets” carried only a small percentage of their assets, according to the company Cryptocurrency can be stored hot (connected online), cold or some combination in between; it all depends on what you're using your wallet for - if not connected then there are other ways we store coins too like paperwallets etc.. Just make sure they're secure!
The hackers made off with a mix of more than 20 tokens including binance coin, safemoon and shiba inu.
After cashing out of Bitmart, hackers used the decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch to exchange their tokens for ether.
From there they deposited them in a privacy mixer known as Tornado Cash - making it hard for authorities or other parties who might be tracing this money's origin/destination trails along its transaction path through various wallets and accounts before finally settling on one particular address where all those funds are now waiting patiently until someone decides what will happen next with them.
A group claiming responsibility behind last week’s $5 million heist at Japan-based cryptocurrency mining company NiceHash announced via Twitter Tuesday morning that they had successfully “moved all bitcoins".
Crypto experts say that a mixing service is where cybercriminals go to turn their illicit funds into new cryptocurrencies. The process will usually involve combining the coin with clean crypto and then converting them for an swap on exchanges, which helps criminals hide or move away from coins they've already been found out in possession of."
Even though the blockchain is public, there are still ways to make transactions difficult for investigators.
Ong says that while some exchanges purchase insurance coverage for their crypto holdings, this is not a uniform practice across all of them.