BitMart CEO Says Stolen Private Key Behind $196M Hack

Hackers were able to drain $196 million of crypto from crypto exchange BitMart by stealing a private key that opened two hot wallets, BitMart CEO Sheldon Xia tweeted on Monday.

Hackers stole $100 million worth of various cryptocurrencies on the Ethereum blockchain and $96 million on Binance Smart Chain, crypto security firm PeckShield revealed on Dec. 5.
BitMart has completed an initial security check and identified affected assets, and it plans to compensate users out of its own pocket, Xia said.
The exchange will announce a timetable to gradually continue deposits and withdrawals, he said, adding that he is “confident” they will resume on Dec. 7.
The hackers used decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch to swap stolen tokens for ether, and deposited ether funds to privacy mixer Tornado Cash to hide their identities, PeckShield said.
A $139 million hack of BXH Exchange in October was also the result of leaked administrator’s keys.

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Eliza Gkritsi

Eliza Gkritsi was CoinDesk's AI/crypto reporter.

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