CoinEx, a well-known cryptocurrency exchange, has been rocked by a major security incident that unfolded on September 12th, causing experts to raise alarm bells about a potential hack. Cyvers Alerts, a reputable blockchain security platform, estimates the damage from this incident to be a substantial $27 million.
The suspicious activity began at approximately 1:21 p.m. UTC when a CoinEx hot wallet sent a sizable amount of Ether, valued at $7.9 million, to an Ethereum address that had previously remained dormant. This marked the beginning of a series of significant transactions, with the same CoinEx wallet sending substantial amounts of various tokens to this enigmatic address. Notably, the tokens transferred included 408,741 Dai stablecoins, 2.7 million Graph tokens, and 29,158 Uniswap tokens.
PeckShield, a leading blockchain security firm, quickly labeled this massive outflow as “suspicious,” intensifying concerns within the cryptocurrency community. Julio Moreno, CryptoQuant’s research head, also noted the peculiar behavior of CoinEx’s wallet, highlighting that the exchange’s Ether reserves had dwindled significantly.
By 5:25 p.m. UTC, CoinEx finally broke its silence and took to Twitter to acknowledge the unusual withdrawals. They stated, “Our Risk Control System detected unusual withdrawals from several hot wallet addresses storing CoinEx assets.” In response, the exchange swiftly established a dedicated team to investigate the matter, seeking to uncover the extent of the breach and its implications.
Amidst the chaos and uncertainty, CoinEx tried reassuring its user base. They emphasized that the siphoned-off cryptocurrency represents only a fraction of their overall reserves and pledged to compensate any user losses resulting from this breach. This commitment was aimed at restoring confidence among CoinEx’s users and the broader cryptocurrency community.