cryptovibes.com
2018 was a major bearish year in the crypto markets. However, since the start of last April, it seems like the crypto winter season is over with Bitcoin pulling the entire market upward. As the crypto boom returns in the global economy, hackers are also plotting on how to target their next victim and steal as much as they want.
Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitrue is the latest hackers’ victim. The exchange confirmed that it suffered a hack earlier today losing around $4.3 million in Cardano (ADA) and XRP tokens. Bitrue explained via Twitter that a hacker accessed their ‘hot wallet’ and moved 2.5 million ADA ($235,000) and 9.3 million XRP ($4.04 million) to various exchanges.
The official statement said that the situation is now under control and all lost funds will be returned to users. Bitrue is reviewing its security network and policies to guarantee that such hacking will not happen in the future. Almost 90 Bitrue users were affected by this hacking spree. However, the exchange has alerted the receiving exchanges about the incident for recovery assistance.
Measures Taken
Currently, an emergency inspection is underway in the entire exchange. Bitrue said that it is working relentlessly to get back live as soon as possible with log in and trading functionality. However, the withdrawals will remain offline for a little longer as the exchange continues investigating the matter.
UPDATE: We expect to have log in and trading functionality live on Bitrue again within a few hours. Thank you for your patience.
— Bitrue (@BitrueOfficial) June 27, 2019
Bitrue also contacted the relevant Singaporean authorities to help find the hacker. It was just last month when Binance lost 7000 bitcoin to hackers worth almost $40 million at the time. Research shows that with the Bitrue hack included, the cumulative amount stolen from crypto exchanges is around $1.36 billion.
So far, 59.2% of the total amount came from 2018 alone while 5.4% comes from 2019. Reports also show that Bitrue is the 17th largest crypto exchange hacks in history. The affected users will hope that all their investment will soon be recovered.