Monday, December 6th, 2021
Crypto exchange suspends payout
Hackers made Bitmart $ 196 million easier
Outsourcing, swapping and washing – this is the method used by hackers to steal cryptocurrencies on the Bitmart platform worth almost 200 million US dollars. According to experts, the vulnerability should have arisen in the provider’s hot wallet.
The crypto trading platform Bitmart has fallen victim to a hacker attack. Unknown had stolen cryptocurrencies worth around 196 million US dollars, said the security company Peckshield. Bitmart confirmed the hack in an official statement, calling it “a major security flawThe platform spoke of a loss of approximately $ 150 million. The blockchain security and data analysis company Peckshield however, estimates the loss will be around $ 200 million.
Bitmart added in a statement that all withdrawals have been temporarily suspended until further notice and said that a thorough security review was underway. According to Peckshield, the hackers wanted a mix of 20 different tokens such as Shibu Ina, Safemoon and Binance Coin.
Individuals who choose to trade their own cryptocurrency through Bitmart can store it “hot”, “cold” or a combination of both. A hot wallet is directly connected to the internet and gives owners relatively easy access to their coins. However, the quick and convenient access offers a target for hackers to attack. Cold wallets, which many users buy and mostly use via USB, are not affected by the hack, according to Bitmart.
According to Bitmart, it is still unclear which method the hackers used. “Outsourcing, swapping and washing” – at least this is how the security company describes the hackers’ approach. After transferring the cryptocurrencies from Bitmart, the thieves apparently used the decentralized exchange aggregator “1inch” to exchange the stolen tokens for Ethereum. The ether coins were then deposited via the Tornado Cash privacy application, where cryptocurrencies are mixed together. This makes it much more difficult to trace the money.