Popular crypto exchange Bitmart has become the latest victim of hack with an alleged loss of $196 Million worth of assets. This centralized exchange hack is one of the most destructive to date. This Cayman Islands-based exchange suffered a security breach in ERC-20 and BSC-based tokens with hundreds of cryptocurrencies stolen. After initially denying any such breach, the Bitmart exchange claimed these mass transfers as daily withdrawals. However, after confirmation, the exchange officially announced this hack, asked the users to be patient while investigating this ‘Security Breach’.
The security analyst firm Peckshield first alerted the public to the alleged hack on Saturday night. The Bitmart addresses have been displaying steady withdrawals of all token balances that are valued at tens of millions of dollars, to an account that is currently identified itself on Etherscan as the “Bitmart Hacker.”
As per the initial prediction by Peckshield the losses would be in the range of $100 million for different cryptocurrencies in the Ethereum blockchain, and $96 million in the Binance smart Chain.
Currently, hackers are utilizing decentralized exchange (DEX) 1inch, an aggregator, to exchange the stolen assets in exchange for currency ether (ETH) and transferring it to another ETH address. All withdrawals are currently suspended from Bitmart while an investigation is being carried on. Bitmart has not issued any clarification on the security breach that hackers exploited.
Hackers are exploiting the security gaps of crypto exchanges since the proliferation of centralized exchange. In past, major cryptocurrency platforms such as Crypotia, BitGrail, Coincheck, and MtGox has become a victim with the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars.