Crypto Exchange AscendEX Hacked, Losses Estimated at $77M
Assets not affected have been transferred to cold wallets while the investigation is carried out, the exchange said.
Dec 13, 2021 at 10:58 a.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/X3FYNOZPING7HJVC75C7KRV5RY.jpg)
Hacker hands image (Shutterstock)
Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.
Cryptocurrency exchange AscendEX suffered a hack for an estimated $77 million following a breach of one its hot wallets.
- On Sunday, AscendEX announced via Twitter that it had identified a number of unauthorized transactions from one of its hot wallets on Saturday.
- Assets not affected have been transferred to cold wallets while the investigation is carried out, the exchange added.
- AscendEX said it will fully reimburse all impacted users and is working with law enforcement and forensic firms to find the stolen assets.
- Blockchain analytics firm PeckShield estimated that the stolen funds amounted to $77 million spread across three chains: Ethereum ($60 million), Binance Smart Chain ($9.2 million) and Polygon ($8.5 million).
- The largest share of the $77 million was accounted for by the relatively minor taraxa (TARA) with $10.8 million, while the combined shares of stablecoins USDT and USDC accounted for $10.7 million.
- The Singapore-based exchange, which was formerly known as BitMax, claims to serve one million institutional and retail clients. It recently raised a $50 million Series B led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC.
UPDATE (Dec. 14, 05:02): Adds reimbursement information in third bullet.
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Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.
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Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.
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