Mercado Bitcoin Keeps Withdrawals Suspended, Identifies Incident Wallets

Mercado Bitcoin kept deposits and withdrawals suspended after a security incident on Nov. 2, leaving customers unable to move funds into or out of the Brazilian crypto exchange while its teams worked to restore operations.

In a subsequent update, the exchange identified destination addresses involved in movements related to the incident. The disclosed Bitcoin address received approximately 106.07 $BTC, while an Ethereum transaction sent 2,852.07 $ETH to the disclosed Ethereum-compatible address.

The exchange said it had quickly identified and contained an incident in one of its systems. “There were no losses to customers,” it said in Portuguese, adding that no data had leaked. Neither statement disclosed a total loss or a reopening time. The customer assurance does not restore access to withdrawals while the suspension remains in place.

The new disclosure gives investigators exchange-identified destinations for tracing assets across Bitcoin, Ethereum-compatible networks, Solana, Stellar and Tron. Mercado Bitcoin said it was sharing the addresses exclusively for identification and tracking purposes.

The Bitcoin address’s transaction history shows seven receipts on Nov. 2 totaling 106.06780001 $BTC, valued by the explorer at about $8.27 million. The largest receipt accounted for 104.43 $BTC.

The Ethereum transaction moved 2,852.07 $ETH, valued by Etherscan at approximately $6.5 million, from a wallet Arkham identifies as belonging to Mercado Bitcoin. Token-transfer records also show that wallet sending assets including VIRTUAL and ONDO to the same destination. These records quantify selected incident-linked movements, not the exchange’s total or net loss.

The venue serves millions of users. In its July financing announcement, Tether said Mercado Bitcoin served 4.5 million users and announced a $20 million investment, as previously reported by The Defiant.

Mercado Bitcoin said its teams were investigating the incident, tracing assets and coordinating measures with the relevant authorities. Its latest update said work to restore operations safely was continuing.

Updated Nov. 2: Added Mercado Bitcoin’s disclosure of incident-linked destination addresses and Bitcoin transaction records.