Stolen crypto from Mercado Bitcoin tops $46M, with losses still mounting

Mercado Bitcoin, a Brazilian crypto exchange, has halted deposits and withdrawals after hackers took an estimated $46 million in digital assets.

This morning, the exchange claimed to have contained the security incident, saying, “There was no harm to customers,” and “there was no data breach.”

The company called the temporary suspension of deposits and withdrawals a “precautionary measure,” noting that it is investigating what happened alongside “competent authorities.”

Wallet addresses had already been released by Mercado Bitcoin

According to Akrham analyst Emmett Gallic, the exchange’s losses from the hack are worth more than $46 million and still climbing.

He goes on to claim, “Lots of old deposit addresses are being swept by the hacker currently, while they sell off memecoins and altcoins.”

Mercado Bitcoin had previously published the various wallet addresses where the stolen funds were moved in order to make it easier to follow the money.

The record for the largest heist ever still belongs to Binance

Last week, Binance — the largest crypto exchange in the world — was attacked by hackers for more than $6 billion. That exceeded the previous record, in which almost $1.5 billion was stolen from the crypto exchange Bybit.

Deposits and withdrawals at Binance have been switched back on, and more than $6 billion in net outflows have since left the platform.

The US Secret Service has joined the investigation into the hack, which is believed to have been carried out by Trader Traitor, a hacking group with links to North Korea.

The FBI has also told node operators, including those run by THORChain, to block transactions.