A serious security breach hit Singaporean bitcoin exchange BingX. Exchange hot wallets lost almost $43 million on Friday, due to hacker activity. One of the biggest crypto attacks this year, this event raises doubts about centralized exchange security policies.
BingX Hack: What Happened?
Blockchain security companies Peck Shield and De.Fi noticed odd activity involving significant fund transfers from BingX’s hot wallet. The technical team of the exchange observed unusual access patterns suggestive of a possible attack about 4 AM Singapore time.
Hi @BingXOfficial you may want to take a look –we observe suspicious significant fund outflow (>$13.6m) to this address: https://t.co/BEJAWWoouA
— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) September 20, 2024
BingX responded by turning on its emergency procedures, which included temporarily blocking withdrawals for up to 24 hours and shifting assets to cold storage.
Vivien Lin, who is also the Chief Product Officer for BingX said that “most of the money however is safe in cold wallets” even though there are “meager losses”.
At around 4am 20 Sep Singapore time, our technical team detected abnormal network access, suspecting a hacker attack on BingX’s hot wallet. We immediately started our emergency plan, including the urgent transfer of assets and withdraw suspension. There has been minor asset loss,…
— Vivien Lin @ BingX (@Vivien_BingX) September 20, 2024
However, few analysts have made conflicting estimates of overall thefts which makes this claim not too accurate. Despite the fact that more study indicated that hackers had stolen over $43 million worth of various cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), and Tether (USDT), initial assessment estimated losses of approximately $26 million.
User Payment And Reaction
In the aftermath of the breach, BingX has promised to make full compensation for affected customers using its own funds. The exchange has emphasized its commitment to user security and transparency. They are working on a compensation plan; Lin said that they expect to restore withdrawal services shortly after completing necessary security checks.
However, this reassurance didn’t go well with cryptocurrency communities who raised doubts about the exchange’s initial communication regarding the incident. Initially, the exchange described it as “wallet maintenance,” which left users baffled and furious because they thought they had been misled about how serious the breach was.
Critics have called for more transparency from centralized exchanges such as BingX so that such things do not happen again.
Increasing Exchange Hacking Trend
The attack on BingX fits a disturbing trend whereby thieves are progressively focusing on centralized exchanges. Indonesian exchange Indodax suffered a similar attack just last week, losing $22 million.
India’s biggest exchange, WazirX, lost over $230 million under identical conditions earlier last year. Many of these strikes have been connected to the Lazarus Group of North Korea, distinguished by advanced hacking methods.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView