Crypto exchange BitMart confirms hack resulting in loss of $150 million in crypto

Crypto exchange BitMart said late Saturday that it has suffered a hack, resulting in the loss of $150 million worth of crypto. 

Security researchers PeckShield originally estimated that the exchange had been hacked for $100 million.

Founder and CEO Sheldon Xia later confirmed the incident, writing on Twitter: "We have identified a large-scale security breach related to one of our ETH hot wallets and one of our BSC hot wallets. At this moment we are still concluding the possible methods used. The hackers were able to withdraw assets of the value of approximately USD 150 millions."

Xia went on to write that the exchange is "conducting a thorough security review" and that all withdrawals are suspended until "further notice." 

At 7.30 PM UTC, PeckShield first noticed an excessive amount of outbound transfers. It found that a range of tokens had been sent out of BitMart's hot wallet, starting at 4.30 PM EST. These tokens included large amounts of meme tokens like shiba (SHIB), plus half a million dollars in the stablecoin USDC.

Other commentators have pointed out that funds have also been removed on the Binance Smart Chain blockchain too, which could raise the amount of funds that have been taken.

The funds have been sent on to Ethereum mixing service Tornado Cash, which will make it harder to track them.

This breaking news report has been updated with additional information, including its headline.

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