Crypto exchange UpBit temporarily suspends Aptos withdrawals due to scam token bug

Quick Take

  • UpBit, South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals of Aptos after its systems reportedly credited a scam token as legitimate. 
  • The exchange has since resumed normal operations.

UpBit, the largest crypto exchange in South Korea, halted deposits and withdrawals of Aptos ( APT +0.74% ) due to a system error that credited a scam token as equivalent to legitimate Aptos tokens, according to user reports. 

UpBit acknowledged in a statement that its system detected abnormal deposit attempts and temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while it fixed the error, which was first reported by X account Definalist

The problem appears to have originated with a scam token directing users to a fraudulent website, ClaimAPTGift.com, which was airdropped to nearly 400,000 Aptos wallets, blockchain data show. A screenshot reportedly shows UpBit crediting the fraudulent token as the same as a native APT token. 

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The technical issue led the price of APT to spike over 35% on ByBit before crashing back down three hours later. Aptos is the trading pair with the highest volume on UpBit in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.


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About Author

Zack Abrams is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. Before coming to The Block, he was the Head Writer at Coinage, a Web3 media outlet covering the biggest stories in Web3. The story he co-reported on Do Kwon won a 2022 Best in Business Journalism award from SABEW. Other projects included a deep dive into SBF's defense based on exclusive documents and unveiling the identity of the hacker behind one of 2023's biggest crypto hacks — so far. He can be reached via X @zackdabrams or email, [email protected].

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