$150 Million In Bitcoin and Ethereum Stolen from KuCoin exchange
1 min readHot wallets of the popular cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin have been compromised and drained for at least $150 million worth of digital assets.
KuCoin was hacked
The company reported the event as a “security incident” a few hours ago, reaffirming that “part of Bitcoin, ERC-20, and other tokens in KuCoin’s hot wallets were transferred out of the exchange.” The monitoring resource Whale Alert has tracked most coins sent to this particular address. In the past few hours, the address has seen numerous small transactions, possibly testing.
Some of the less-known altcoins transferred out of the exchange’s hot wallets include DGTX, AGI, SNX, DX, SNT, DRGN, and more. To ensure that further unauthorized withdrawals cannot happen, KuCoin has suspended all deposits and withdrawals while conducting a “thorough security review.”
The Singapore-based exchange asserted it had re-deployed the hot wallets after the incident. The statement reassured that the cold wallets are safe and unharmed, and users who have lost any funds will be reimbursed “completely by KuCoin and our insurance fund.”
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, among other prominent individuals within the industry, has shown support and promised that his company will “actively” assist during the investigation. The exchange’s native cryptocurrency felt the adverse consequences immediately. KuCoin Shares (KCS) plummeted from over $1 to $0.86 in minutes. Since then, the token’s price has recovered to some extent and trades just beneath $1.
